US charges former Volkswagen CEO in emissions scandal

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - German carmaker Volkswagen's former CEO Martin Winterkorn has been indicted in the U.S. on charges stemming from the company's diesel emissions scandal, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday.

In the grand jury indictment, unsealed Thursday in Federal District Court in Detroit, Winterkorn was charged with four counts of violating U.S. federal law. The first count charges that Winterkorn conspired with other VW executives to defraud the U.S., defraud American customers and violate the Clean Air Act. The remaining three counts charge Winterkorn with wire fraud in connection with the scheme.

"If you try to deceive the United States, then you will pay a heavy price," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

Volkswagen pleaded guilty last year to cheating on emissions tests by using software in nearly 600,000 of its diesel vehicles in the U.S. and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties.

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted that approximately 11 million of its vehicles worldwide contained software for cheating on emissions tests.