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FBI Arrests Volkswagen Executive On Charges Related To Dieselgate (cnet.com)
According to CNET, the FBI has arrested Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt over the weekend on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. relating to the ongoing Dieselgate emissions scandal. From the report: Schmidt headed VW's regulatory compliance office in the U.S. from 2014 to March 2015. The FBI's official Criminal Complaint states that during that time VW employees -- Schmidt included -- knowingly installed secret "defeat device" software in 475,000 diesel cars in the U.S., hiding during emissions testing the fact that those cars emitted up to 40 times the legally allowable pollution levels when on the road. The complaint asserts that by knowingly installing this secret cheat software, Schmidt and VW conspired to defraud the U.S. by impairing and impeding the Environmental Protection Agency and violating the Clean Air Act, leading to the arrest on Saturday. Schmidt is due to appear before a Federal Court in Miami on Monday.
Nothing will come of this. Corporate executives almost always get a slap on the wrist and a scolding, and that's it. Particularly under the next administration, if anybody believes that we will be holding corporations accountable for stuff like this, I have some beach front swampland you may be interested in.
for their dumb job that could land them in jail. Talk about screwed up priorities.
FFS Slashdot. Is there anything like the good old days of news for nerds?
In order to placate the plebes it's more important to appear to be doing something rather than actually do anything.
Why is this worthy of Slashdot? This is just an executive being busted by the FBI. I can think of far more worthy subjects, say, for example, do a comparison between Raspberry PI 3 and the latest Intel Edison, and the latest Beaglebone.
Most Respectfully Yours Mark Allyn Bellingham, Washington
What you gonna do if Bill Gates is ever involved in a scandal? Call it Gatesgate?
For fear to be arrested
Here's hoping this leads to some actual changes.
Nope, no sig
I think anyone who cares that the laws of the land are enforced cares. If emissions standards are set, and someone cheats on those standards, then they should be punished. Maybe we don't get the top people involved, but is that an argument against anyone being prosecuted?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I expect they will be arresting Elizabeth Holmes as well? Or is this an American philosophy arrest, where defrauding the health of people isn't nearly as offensive as financially damaging defrauding.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
And - no - this is not hyperbolic. That's my air those VW's are polluting. I've often been asked if I would just stop breathing and my answer has always been "no, thank you". I'm really addicted to breathing. It's a shame I can't get the same high-quality air I used to get last century.
It's good they caught him if the accusations are true. Does this mean he and his fellow conspirators will be held liable for the damage they caused to their former employer? I have a strong suspicion they won't.
To the extent that banker types get their way, the VW execs will be in prison for a long time. Prior to the scandal, VW was trading at over $200/share, as high as $250. After the information came out, it dropped to $100. That's about $80-$100 billion or so that investors lost.
That's a bit more than the losses from Enron. Enron executives got prison sentences of up to 24 years (later reduced to 14 years).
The damage to investors side of the issue is on top of the EPA / environmental crimes.
RE: Maybe we don't get the top people involved, but is that an argument against anyone being prosecuted?
Absolutely. You have described selective prosecution based on class and/or wealth, and that is definitely against the spirit, if not the black-letter law of the Constitution.
There were plenty of scandals Bill Gates was involved in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
How did we miss this Florida Man opportunity!?
This forum Sig is licensed under the LGPL.
None of this makes sense.
Whatever regulations mandated that whatever test be passed before the vehicles could go on sale.
Which they did.
No problem there.
Even if you accept that VW was bending the spirit of that law it makes no sense to put the whole blame onto one guy.
By the way, over twenty years ago I was working with Lucas. Over lunch breaks the guys building engine management systems for Volvo would proudly tell me how they detected test conditions and adapted the engine control accordingly.
Clearly this is not a one man show. He was probably still in nappies when it all started.
The US Justice Departments Anti-trust actions in the 1990s against Microsoft were a joke. Microsoft used unlawful, anti-competitive, predatory tactics to seize control of the PC market. You couldn't even buy a PC then without being forced to also buy a licence for Microsoft Windows whether you wanted it or not. It's called bundling and its illegal. DOJ gave Microsoft a slap on the wrist fine but let them keep their ill-gottten gains. http://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/long-antitrust-saga-ends-for-microsoft/
About fucking time. How the bank robbers at Wells Fargo?
It's a shame I can't get the same high-quality air I used to get last century.
If you could have their air, but also had to live with their technology and medicine too would you still take the trade?
Meanwhile, depending on where you live, 100 years ago was pretty filthy... London air quality in 1917.... sulpher dioxide and soot from the smokestacks... and that was on a good day... 100 years ago puts you right in the middle of World War I ... a little soot in your air would be right pleasant compared to the 50,000 tons of chlorine, phosgene, mustard, and other gases that some of your 100-year-ago contemporaries would have been dealing with.
Meanwhile, smog and acid rain, are on the decline in North America thanks to environmental regulation and pollution controls... and with the mass market arrival of electric city air quality is actually poised to get even better in the future.
Not quite true that *nobody* was jailed. Here are 35 bankers sent to prison:
http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/2...
Also some who didn't go to prison did get fines over over $100 million.
Compared to the 1980s S&L crisis, there were certainly fewer prosecutions. One career prosecutor who is knowledgeable about both says that one reason for that is the the Obama administration, unlike the Reagan administration, was hostile toward white-blowers who could have enabled prosecution.
Where my post says "white-blowers", that should be "whistle-blowers". In the 1980s, whistle-blowers gave leads to investigators and testified against bosses. The Obama administration has of course been hostile to whistle-blowers.
Guaranteed loss of job vs small chance of landing in jail.
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
Can't they just summon him? Arrest make sense for dangerous people, and this one is not going to harm anyone over the weekend.
Looking at the pattern of your posts I sincerely hope that you get in touch soon with someone who cares about you.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder can be cured.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Just one guy? Obvioulsy a token sacrificial goat, probably set up by VW themselves. You can't tell me the whole of the VW upper management didn't know about and agree to this.
With Extra Sauerkraut.
I think it was Hillary who said a lot of nasty things about some white blowers.
It reminds me of the arrests at HSBC for money laundering and the arrests after the financial crash. Oh, wait...
Did VW forget to "donate"?
There's already been a Gategate, although as the redirect shows I think it was more commonly known as "Plebgate".
It may be etymologically dumb, but it's a handy bit of syntax. Sort of like "-aholic" for being addicted to something other than alcohol.
And - no - this is not hyperbolic. That's my air those VW's are polluting.
The affected VWs produce no more NOx than contemporary diesel cars and their particulate emissions are exceptionally low. This is a regulatory compliance issue, not an air quality issue.
It's a shame I can't get the same high-quality air I used to get last century.
At no point in the previous century was the air in the populated parts of the West as clean as it is now.
So will we complain how the US is targetting European companies or do we only do that when it's the EU doing it to US companies?
I highly doubt that Volkswagen executives struggle to feed their families.
The FBI has arrested Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt . . . is he the highest ranking executive who demonstrably knew what was going on?
His job was as chief regulatory compliance officer for volkswagon in the USA... He was employed to ensure volkswagon was in compliance with US regulations.
That means that his signature was on paperwork submitted to the US government affirming that volkswagon was in compliance with a whole lot of regulations. It turns out that this was false.
Ooops.
"I don't shoot my mouth off without knowing what I'm talking about" - by raymorris (2726007) on Thursday December 31, 2015 @09:29AM (#51215379)
Raymorris you shoot your mouth off f'ing up in 2 security fuckups https://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5351503&cid=47379233/ & https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5351503&cid=47374033/ + raymorris = scriptkiddie https://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8895203&cid=51726265/
&
Tell us how ONLY 'newer script kiddie tools' have stringlength built in (when PASCAL had it for ages - my fav tool) https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8472509&cid=51114383/ YOU BLUNDERING WANNABE!
APK
P.S.=> You like to talk behind others' backs like the gossiping bitch TROLL you are raymorris https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=9880997&cid=53312265/ well, here I am letting YOU TALK in those links, showing your FAILS wannabe ... apk
for their dumb job that could land them in jail. Talk about screwed up priorities.
Obviously you have never had a family depending on you.
It's easy for a young child like you to judge others.
A man understands that people sometimes have to do things they would not otherwise do because circumstances force it.
Obviously, you've been raised by unethical parents. It's easy for you to rationalize your bad behavior instead of getting off your ass and finding a legal/moral solution. Stop blaming others for your problems, and grow up.
Just another day in Paradise
Sure, let's just punish the shareholders instead of the jackasses who were actually responsible. If Merkel is dumb enough to start a trade war over that, then so be it.
Just another day in Paradise
Plenty of ACs have posted here that the U.S. is only going after non-American firms. Well, here's your red meat...
http://abcnews.go.com/Business...
Just another day in Paradise
I think GP is full of excrement, but what makes you think one can still start a trade war after the opposing party has already started it?