An official at automaker FCAUS, formerly known as Chrysler Group, has pleaded guilty in federal court to a scheme to withhold emissions system information from more than 100,000 vehicles.
Emanuele Palma’s plea to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act was announced Thursday by the Justice Department. Palma, 43, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on Oct. 17.
According to court documents, he and others conspired to withhold information from the Environmental Protection Agency about the design, calibration and operation of systems in 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel vehicles.
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The vehicles’ pollutant emissions, fuel efficiency and compliance with US emission standards were also misrepresented.
A US FCA official has pleaded guilty in federal court to withholding emissions system information from more than 100,000 vehicles. FCA pleaded guilty to conspiracy last year in federal court in Detroit.
FCA US was placed on probation for three years last August and ordered to pay nearly $300 million for defrauding regulators about diesel emissions systems on vehicles. This sentence was part of an earlier agreement. FCA pleaded guilty to conspiracy in June 2022 in federal court in Detroit.
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FCA is now part of Stellantis.
Engineers were accused of using software tricks and other measures to meet US emissions standards while marketing the vehicles as “clean eco-diesels”.
“Top FCA US auto officials, including Mr. Palma, conspired to circumvent pollution standards and obtain EPA certification under false pretenses for millions of SUVs and pickup trucks,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a release Thursday.
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In 2017, Volkswagen was ordered to pay $2.8 billion in fines for cheating on US diesel emissions tests. The company also paid $1.5 billion in a civil case brought by the government and said it would spend $11 billion to buy back cars and offer other compensation.
Source by [Fox News]
