fb tracking

DOJ Must Hold Volkswagen Executives Accountable, Even Under Trump

Jan. 11, 2017

DOJ Must Hold Volkswagen Executives Accountable, Even Under Trump

Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Note: Today, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy announced a $4.3 billion settlement with Volkswagen to resolve civil and criminal investigations into the automaker’s emissions cheating scandal. Volkswagen is pleading guilty to a variety of civil and criminal charges, and six high-ranking executives are being indicted on criminal charges.

Volkswagen engaged in a concerted conspiracy to cheat and lie to American consumers and deceive American regulators on a scale with few precedents. Today, the Justice Department has meted out justice, importantly insisting both that the company plead guilty to felony charges and that executives be held criminally accountable.

We’ve seen far too little of this in recent years. Will the Trump Justice Department follow today’s positive example going forward?

###