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

reuters.com

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

#21

Post by djrogers »

btian wrote: post #8

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"

Your cynicism apparently outweighs your reading skills:

Quoting directly 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."

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

#22

Post by ballenf »

There's a flip side implication of this decision: it gives tremendous autonomy to engineers to stand up to management. It can empower legions of engineers to do the right thing when faced with pressure to do wrong.

Maybe I'm trying too hard to find a silver lining.

I'm angered at the hypocrisy of the management getting to sleep in their own beds for the next 40 months and their kids having no indication of their parent's role in this crime, while this engineer's reputation gets smeared for life. Not that he was innocent, but being the lone fallguy for a billion dollar corporation doesn't particular feel like justice.

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

#23

Post by c3534l »

relyks wrote: post #19

Aren't the ones in charge (e.g. executives, managers, etc.) responsible for the wrongdoing and not the workers carrying out the criminal activity? I'm surprised his lawyer didn't make a claim that he was just "following orders." There have been countless recreations of Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment and its results have been consistent. People are willing to obey and comply to authority figures, even if it's…

Just "following orders" doesn't even work for soldiers, let alone criminals.

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

#24

Post by jamesred »

Shouldn’t there be a distinction between the person writing the code and the person who chooses to use the code? An engineer shouldn’t be responsible for knowing the law and doesn’t have access to corporate lawyers that executives do. You could argue that there are legitimate reasons to write code that’s illegal for research purposes but never implemented. Why should an engineer be responsible for that?

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

#25

Post by sqeaky »

jamesred wrote: post #24

Shouldn’t there be a distinction between the person writing the code and the person who chooses to use the code? An engineer shouldn’t be responsible for knowing the law and doesn’t have access to corporate lawyers that executives do. You could argue that there are legitimate reasons to write code that’s illegal for research purposes but never implemented. Why should an engineer be responsible for that?

Per the article this engineer was an executive.

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

#27

Post by fluxsauce »

itsdrewmiller wrote: post #15
fluxsauce wrote: post #6

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.…

From the article: "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 $…

Good catch, that was towards the end.

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

#28

Post by O5vYtytb »

rmason wrote: post #2

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.

This is why many academic institutions require a philosophy course for engineering majors. I had to take science, tech, and ethics.

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

#29

Post by Etheryte »

bitL wrote: post #9

Note to engineers: managers will throw you under the bus as they see fit.

If you don't have the time to read the actual article, read the other comments - the managers are also facing jail-time. Also, this guy wasn't a regular engineer, he's also an executive, the title is misleading.
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