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Legal Loophole Offers Volkswagen Criminal Immunity
An anonymous reader writes: According to the Wall Street Journal (paywalled) a loophole in the 1970 Clean Air Act could make it impossible for U.S. prosecutors to subject Volkswagen to criminal charges over its use of standards-dodging 'defeat devices' in its emissions-testing software. Prosecutors are now reported to be considering alternative methods, including (considerably lesser) charges that Volkswagen lied to regulation authorities.
Who's worming their way out?
Sounds like the prosecutors are trying to make a case that won't get thrown out.
You can't just make up law as you go along because it's morally wrong.
So charge them with fraud if they can't be charged under the clean air act. They deliberately misrepresented their product to customers to make greater profits, seems like a textbook case of fraud to me. Of course, since they are a large corporation they will probably skate with a small fine. You get the government you voted for, I hope all the people who vote for the corporatists each election are happy with the outcome.
Enigma
If an individual did this, they would have manufactured a list of charges a mile long by now based on the craziest of legal theories.
Here, fraud presents itself quite naturally and they can't seem to find it.
Log in or piss off.
And not because it lets the car companies get away with something.
The prosecutor is considering prosecuting Volkswagen for "lying to the authorities". "They lied to the authorities" is a catchall crime that the government often brings when it finds itself unable to convict someone for an actual crime. This is a bad, bad, thing because you can't just refuse to speak to the government, and pretty much anyone is going to say something when questioned by the government that can be spun as a "lie", even if they just forgot, were misheard, or told an actual lie but one that has no bearing on the case.
The people cheering for this are really cheering for the idea that the government can put anyone in jail at a whim, because that's what the crime of "lying to the government" amounts to. It makes a mockery of the idea of a fair trial, and the fact that in this case the government decided to use this trick on a deserving target doesn't make it any less horrible.
No defeat devices. They violated that rule by having a mode specifically for the testing environment that defeated the testing of emissions during normal operation.
I heard he's getting a $32M pension. Poor guy, they sure made an example out of him.
The classical purpose and function of US government regulatory agencies is to indemnify the industries which they are charged with regulating from any legal repercussions resulting from egregious and outlandish acts of greed and irresponsibility.
This is just another case.
a legal loophole?
found by corporate lawyers?
I'm shocked. SHOCKED.
I'm going to go home, re-evaluate my life, and stop selling death sticks.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
When the EPA tested the vehicles they did not assume that there would be this level of overt lying and manipulation. There have been other instances of bad behavior in the past, but these were caught in the normal course of events. This was deliberately intended to evade regulations, and VW has already admitted as much. So if management admits they were breaking the rules, how can you try and blame the EPA?
If the EPA or other government agencies did their job correctly, they would start with the assumption that the companies they deal with are run by degenerate psychopaths who will do anything, up to and including mass murder to make a buck. That certainly describes Ford and their failing key ignition switch, which by Ford's own estimate killed around 200 people. It is certain that the death toll is higher; given the money at stake, why should they stop lying now if they can get away with it? And previous to that there was Toyota and the cover-up of their sudden acceleration problem. So it's not like WV is that exceptional.
But when the regulators try and do a thorough job then business interests start squealing like stuck pigs and scream about how "ebil gomment is distroying the free interprize". Then they go out and buy a few more congress critters, and keep on lying and stealing for profit. And asshats like you are always there to cheer them on. Too bad you didn't die in a defective Ford or Toyota; it might have taught you something about how the world really works.
Why is Snark Required?
I wonder if anyone dares to put this into perspective - i.e. in a comparison with Wall Street practices. Last time I heard, bonuses and pensions over there were at least one order of magnitude higher, and deaths (like suicides) following crises like Lehman Brothers and their followers were actually countable, not dubious statistical numbers.
Also, Mr Winterkorn is still facing charges in Germany, which could lead to his imprisonment (large-scale fraud). I haven't heard from many bankers going to jail.