A German regional court Monday convicted four former Volkswagen executives of fraud in connection with the long-running Dieselgate emissions scandal.
The court sentenced two of the former executives to prison for several years, while the remaining two received suspended sentences. The ruling concludes a major trial that spanned nearly four years.
The scandal known as Dieselgate first came to light in September 2015, when EPA discovered that many diesel vehicles produced by German carmaker Volkswagen were equipped with illegal so-called defeat devices.
These devices detected when a car was undergoing emissions testing and altered performance to meet environmental standards — while in real-world driving conditions, the cars emitted pollutants far above legal limits.
