Former Volkswagen Group chief executive Martin Winterkorn denied responsibility for the diesel emissions scandal in court testimony on Wednesday, more eight years after revelations of the affair rocked the German auto giant. Winterkorn, 76, took the witness stand in a civil lawsuit brought by VW investors. Winterkorn is also facing two criminal proceedings over his alleged involvement in the scandal, in which VW diesel engines were programmed to appear cleaner in emissions testing than in real-w
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Former Volkswagen Group executive Oliver Schmidt, whose 2017 arrest at the Miami airport made global headlines, was released from prison after serving about half his sentence on charges related to the diesel-emissions scandal.
A ruling, issued by a court in the German city of Lueneburg, allowed Schmidt to be released on parole, his lawyer Alexander Saettele said Wednesday. Schmidt, 52, had been sentenced to seven years by a U.S. court, but had been
The diesel scandal, exposed by U.S. regulators in September 2015, still haunts VW. The rigging of engines to make it appear that they could pass U.S. emissions tests has cost the world’s largest automaker at least 32 billion euros ($38.7 billion). Lawsuits from disgruntled investors and customers are set to drag on for years.