The indictment alleges that Winterkorn was told of the emissions cheating in May of 2014 and again in July of 2015, yet "agreed with other senior VW executives to continue to perpetrate the fraud and deceive U.S. According to prosecutors, Bernd Gottweis, senior VW manager then responsible for product safety, met with engine development employees and learned about the ICCT study. The memo was attached to a cover note authored by another senior executive and was addressed to Winterkorn, prosecutors allege. Even after the ICCT study, VW continued to deny that its cars were programmed to cheat, the indictment alleges. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined in 2015 that Volkswagen manipulated software so that diesel emissions controls worked only when cars were on test stands.

Source: ABC News May 03, 2018 20:30 UTC