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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

#31

Post by sqeaky »

djrogers wrote: post #21
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 co…

The article flatly says that this person an executive and that several other executives were charged.

This thread is fulling of people who didn't read a tiny well written article.

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

#32

Post by btian »

djrogers wrote: post #21
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 co…

Updating to say "top executives".

They have no trouble charging engineers and low level managers, but then it stops. It's not my cynicism because it happened so many times.

DOJ has no trouble charging a Goldman Sachs trader, but will never charge C-suite executives.

Read the book.

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

#33

Post by bluetwo »

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…

"U.S. prosecutors have charged eight current and former Volkswagen executives in connection with the diesel emissions cheating probe."

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

#34

Post by LoSboccacc »

ballenf wrote: post #22

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 pare…

Not a chance unless clear whistleblower laws emerge providing strong incentives coupled with extreme protections

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

#35

Post by djrogers »

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…

Did you read the article (or any others about this) at all? His lawyer absolutely made the 'just following orders' argument:

"Liang’s lawyer, Daniel Nixon, on Friday urged Cox to consider a sentence of house arrest, saying Liang was not a “mastermind” of the emissions fraud. Liang “blindly executed a misguided loyalty to his employer,” Nixon said."

Also, executives are being charged:

"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."

I find it horrifying that engineers here on HN think that following orders is a good enough reason to stay out of jail for something like this. No matter what executives have done, we must never remove all blame from the people who are directly responsible for committing crimes rather than doing the right thing.

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

#36

Post by kermittd »

ballenf wrote: post #22

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 pare…

I was going to make a similar comment but in this case wasn't this guy in a leadership role? I believe the article may have even referred to him as an exec but I have to reread. But yes others should definitely be held responsible.

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

#37

Post by sqeaky »

ballenf wrote: post #22

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 pare…

Read the article. This guy was an executive and 7 or 8 other executive were charged as well.

He happened to be the executive in charge of engineering. He also plead guilty.

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

#39

Post by smallhands »

aianus wrote: post #20
notyourday wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single boss that the engineer had ( all the way to the CEO ) should be go to jail for that if that engineer went to jail.

Why? Is Pizza Hut's CEO criminally responsible if I run a red light to deliver a pizza because I'm afraid of being late? Edit: Please explain how the VW case is any different than my analogy

I do not understand?, if vw post huge profit the execs will all get fat bonus .in the case poor sob did all this behind his managers back ?.

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

#40

Post by sqeaky »

Etheryte wrote: post #29
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.

This was was an executive per the article.
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