On Tuesday, a federal judge delayed the sentencing a German male who is the only individual to face U.S. criminal charges regarding Volkswagen‘s diesel emission scandal, as he cooperates with prosecutors still investigating the issue.
In September, James R. Liang, who is been with Volkswagen since 1983 and belonged to a team of engineers who made a diesel engine, pleaded guilty after being alleged of conspiring to dedicate wire fraud and violating U.S. clean air laws.
Liang was arranged to be sentenced on February 1, however U.S. District Judge Sean Cox in Detroit provided an order postponing the sentencing until May 3 “to allow more time” for accused’s cooperation in the investigation.
Liang is “cooperating with the government in the investigation” and the possible prosecution of others, the court filing stated.
Liang, a German resident who resides in Newbury Park, California, was alleged of conspiring with present and former Volkswagen workers to misinform the United States government about software that federal regulators called a “defeat device,” which enabled the automaker to sell diesel vehicles for over 6 years that gave off more smog-forming gases than U.S. emission standards permit.
A legal representative for Liang did not right away return a message seeking comment. The Justice Department and Volkswagen refused to comment.
Liang was among the engineers in Wolfsburg, Germany, directly associated with establishing the defeat device for the Volkswagen Jetta in 2006, as per the indictment. Engineers had soon realized the diesel engines they were creating for automobiles targeted at the United States market might not meet federal government clean air standards while attracting consumers, the indictment stated.
Volkswagen has accepted to spend as much as $17.5 billion in the United States to solve claims from owners in addition to federal and state regulators over contaminating diesel automobiles.
