A federal judge in Detroit sentenced former engineer James Liang to 40 months in prison yesterday for his role in Volkswagen AG’s multi-year scheme to sell diesel cars that generated more pollution than US clean air rules allowed.
US District Court Judge Sean Cox also ordered Mr Liang to pay a $200,000 fine, 10 times the amount sought by federal prosecutors.
Judge 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.
Mr Liang was part of a long-term conspiracy that perpetrated a “stunning fraud on the American consumer,” Judge Cox said, as the defendant’s family looked on in the courtroom.
“This is a very serious and troubling crime against our economic system.”
Mr Liang pleaded guilty earlier this year to misleading regulators, and had cooperated with US law enforcement officials investigating Volkswagen.
Prosecutors last week recommended that Mr Liang, 63, receive a three-year prison sentence, reflecting credit for his months of cooperation with the US investigation of Volkswagen’s diesel emissions fraud.
Mr Liang could have received a five-year prison term under federal sentencing guidelines. He can appeal the sentence, Judge Cox said.
Volkswagen pleaded guilty in March to three felony charges under an agreement with prosecutors to resolve the US criminal probe of the company itself. It agreed to spend as much as $25 billion in the United States to resolve claims from owners and regulators and offered to buy back about 500,000 vehicles.
Volkswagen has admitted that it used software to deceive regulators in the United States and Europe from 2006 to 2015.
The ruse allowed the automaker to sell diesel-equipped cars and sport utilities without installing emissions control systems that could have compromised performance or posed an inconvenience to customers, prosecutors charged.
Prosecutors said the deception lasted a decade and first impacted vehicles in the 2009 model year in the United States.
The German automaker declined to comment on Mr Liang’s sentence.
“Volkswagen continues to cooperate with investigations by the Department of Justice into the conduct of individuals. It would not be appropriate to discuss personnel matters,” the company said in a statement.
Mr Liang’s lawyer, Daniel Nixon, yesterday urged Judge Cox to consider a sentence of house arrest, saying Mr Liang was not a “mastermind” of the emissions fraud. Mr Liang “blindly executed a misguided loyalty to his employer,” Dr Nixon said.
Mr Liang is still employed by Volkswagen but no longer works as an engineer.