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VW Engineer Sentenced To 40-Month Prison Term In Diesel Case (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the payback's-a-bitch dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A federal judge in Detroit sentenced former engineer James Liang to 40 months in prison on Friday for his role in Volkswagen AG's multiyear scheme to sell diesel cars that generated more pollution than U.S. clean air rules allowed. U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox also ordered Liang to pay a $200,000 fine, 10 times the amount sought by federal prosecutors. Cox said he hoped the prison sentence and fine would deter other auto industry engineers and executives from similar schemes to deceive regulators and consumers. Prosecutors last week recommended that Liang, 63, receive a three-year prison sentence, reflecting credit for his months of cooperation with the U.S. investigation of Volkswagen's diesel emissions fraud. Liang could have received a five-year prison term under federal sentencing guidelines. Liang's lawyers had asked for a sentence of home detention and community service.

7 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Lol VW engineer by Thundercat007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But the President who instantly retired the moment diesel gate broke. Took his 50 mil pension plan, walks away Scott free. Sounds legit

  2. Wait what? by viperidaenz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The engineer gets prosecuted for decisions signed off by the executives?

    1. Re:Wait what? by JohnFen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think his point was that the engineer is the one who wrote the code (metaphorically, he pulled the trigger) and so it's not silly to prosecute him. It doesn't matter if he was doing it on orders. Just like how a hitman should be prosecuted for doing the hit, and it doesn't matter that he was doing it on orders.

      In both cases, the one who gave the orders should be prosecuted as well.

    2. Re:Wait what? by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The engineer gets prosecuted for decisions signed off by the executives?

      Speaking as an engineer -- hell yes.

      You expect managers to be dishonest, craven bastards. But an engineer is supposed to have integrity.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  3. I'm all for harsh penalties here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...but $200,000 for an engineer combined with the 40 months? If they're going to do that to the engineer following instructions, then they better be much harsher on the executives and managers that told the engineer to do it in the first place.

    1. Re:I'm all for harsh penalties here... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A federal judge in Detroit ...

      Something tells me he isn't very happy with fraudulently marketed imported cars...

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  4. Throw another pleeb under the money bus by burtosis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's keep those profits rolling, we have engineers to burn! America needs to wise up and start jailing the senior management. It's sad times for America when South Korea is the one with balls while America just rolls over and takes it.