VW engineer pleads guilty in emissions scandal

A former Volkswagen engineer has pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the automaker’s emissions scandal. 

James Robert Liang, who headed diesel competence at VW until June, pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding the federal government to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, the Detroit News reported on Friday. 

{mosads}He faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and he will be sentenced on Jan. 11. 

Prosecutors had accused Liang of helping craft a “defeat device,” a software program that would turn off emissions controls on VW’s diesel-fueled vehicles as a way to skirt federal emissions limits. 

Federal prosecutors said Liang knew several colleagues had engaged in the same criminal actions, and that he had emailed other coworkers asking them to join in. 

As part of the plea deal, he admitted to lying to regulators and consumers about VW’s emissions. His sentence will depend in part on how much he cooperates with prosecutors in remaining legal disputes over the scandal. 

“I knew that VW did not disclose defeat device to regulators in order to get certification,” Liang said during a court hearing.

The emissions scandal that has enveloped Volkswagen is based in its use of the defeat devices, which the company admits it installed on 11 million diesel vehicles. Regulators discovered the devices — which permit the cars to emit up to 40 times more nitrogen oxide than is allowed under federal law — last year. 

The company has already agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle both civil and consumer claims against it. Liang faced the first criminal charges of the scandal.