VW engineer who developed the so-called “defeat device” has his sentencing delayed

Amid all the VW investigations and settlement talks, the criminal investigations may have had slightly less media. The update on the criminal side is that a former-VW employee, as the first person to face U.S. criminal charges for the VW emissions scandal, has had his sentencing delayed.

It appears that U.S. District Judge Sean Cox may have cut the engineer, James Liang, some slack as his sentencing date has been pushed back from 1 February 2017 to 3 May 2017. The strategy for doing so was highlighted in Judge Cox’s delay order to “allow more time for defendant’s cooperation in the investigation”.

Could more VW employees be charged?

Although Mr Liang is the first and only VW employee to be criminally charged for VW’s cheating in the U.S., prosecutors are hoping that, by giving Mr Liang more time, this will hopefully allow prosecutors to further investigate and pursue all perpetrators.

The court filing said that Mr Liang is “cooperating with the government in the investigation and the potential prosecution of others”.

Mr Liang is stuck in a predicament. Does he remain loyal to his former employers/colleagues or does he spill all, in a bid to reduce his sentence time? According to BBC News, he could face five years imprisonment, but his sentence can be reduced if he cooperates with the U.S. Federal Government.

As Mr Liang was working as part of a ‘team’, there are sure to be more perpetrators in the emissions scandal. He was only one in a team of engineers who conducted emissions work on the diesel engines, and it seems clear that Mr Liang has chosen the smart option. Now that he’s cooperating with the Government, it’s just a matter of time before other possible cheating employees find themselves subject to probe and potential criminal charges.

Charged with violating multiple U.S. laws

Mr Liang was charged as part of the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal investigation, which lasted a year. The former VW employee pleaded guilty to committing and conspiring fraud by developing the diesel engine software dubbed the so-called “defeat device”. Mr Liang pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act, a wire fraud count, and a consumer fraud count.

These criminal charges imposed on VW’s former-employee doesn’t come as a surprise. Mr Liang was a part of a conspiracy to allow the German automakers to deceive both their customers and regulators worldwide for more than six years. Customers believed they were purchasing eco-friendly vehicles, and regulators believed that their emissions were within the regulated limits. Unfortunately, that was far from the truth, as the vehicles were actually polluting nitrogen oxide up to 40 times more than the regulated limit.

Direct Involvement

It’s thought that Mr Liang was directly involved in developing the cheating software for VW more than a decade ago. The engineer was then involved with developing the EA189 turbodiesel engine for other VW models, which included the Golf’s and Passat’s. It’s thought that the engineers knew the vehicles wouldn’t pass emissions testing while maintaining customer popularity; as such, the “defeat device” was devised.

Reuter reports that there has yet to be any comments from Mr Liang’s attorneys. The U.S. Justice Department and VW also refused to comment on the matter.