DETROIT (AP) – The imminent criminal plea deal between Volkswagen and U.S. prosecutors in an emissions-cheating scandal could be bad news for one group of people: VW employees who had a role in the deceit or subsequent cover-up.
VW on Tuesday disclosed that it is in advanced talks to settle the criminal case by pleading guilty to unspecified charges and paying $4.3 billion in criminal and civil fines, a sum far larger than any recent case involving the auto industry.
It’s likely that VW will agree to cooperate in the probe, turning over documents and other information, said David M. Uhlmann, a former chief of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section who is now a University of Michigan law professor.
“Companies often face the dilemma of whether to protect their employees or cooperate with government investigations, but almost always end up deciding in the company’s best interest to share what information they have,” Uhlmann said.
Although VW’s communications with lawyers may be exempt, emails between employees and company executives should help prosecutors reach as far up VW’s organizational chart as the scandal went, he said. Prosecutors now have three witnesses giving them information and have arrested Oliver Schmidt, VW’s former head of U.S. environmental compliance who dealt with the EPA and California Air Resources Board after the scandal was uncovered.