VW pleads guilty in emissions scandal; 6 employees indicted

WASHINGTON — Six high-level Volkswagen employees from Germany were indicted in the U.S. on Wednesday in the VW emissions-cheating scandal, while the automaker itself agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay $4.3 billion — by far the biggest fine ever levied by the government against an automaker.

In announcing the charges and the plea bargain, Justice Department prosecutors detailed a large and elaborate scheme inside VW to commit fraud and then cover it up, with at least 40 employees allegedly involved in destroying evidence.

VW installed software in diesel engines on nearly 600,000 VW, Porsche and Audi vehicles in the U.S. that activated pollution controls during government tests and switched them off in real-world driving.

The software allowed the cars to spew harmful nitrogen oxide at up to 40 times the legal limit.

U.S. regulators confronted VW about the software after university researchers discovered differences between testing and actual emissions.

Even after that admission, prosecutors said, company employees were busy deleting computer files and other evidence.

Volkswagen previously reached a $15 billion civil settlement with environmental authorities and car owners in the U.S. under which it agreed to repair or buy back up to a half-million of the affected vehicles.

The six supervisors indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit were accused of lying to environmental regulators or destroying computer files containing evidence.

According to the plea agreement, Volkswagen officials began deceiving the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulators starting in 2006, when they realized new diesel engines wouldn’t meet 2007 emissions standards.