VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

Here's a case where a guys boss instructs him to write code that lets the company cheat emissions tests and to keep quiet about it. I wonder if he's thought that it would have been far better to have refused, even if it meant losing his job.

You don't know what sort of settlement is happening behind the scenes ..

Not questioning his innocence, but will the executives involved be held to the same legal standard?

EDIT: FTA

> U.S. prosecutors have charged eight current and former Volkswagen executives in connection with the diesel emissions cheating probe. Liang is one of the lowest-ranking executives charged so far.

> Another VW executive, Oliver Schmidt, has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in Detroit on Dec. 6. Under a plea agreement, Schmidt could face up to seven years in prison and a fine of between $40,000 and $400,000 after admitting to conspiring to mislead U.S regulators and violating clean air laws.

No. Nothing will happen to top executives.

There's a lot of insight as to why from "The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives"

Great news! Now everything goes. Executives doesn't need to have moral obligations to oversee their employees. Any problem, send them to jail.