Ex-VW Official to Stay in Jail -- WSJ
May 26 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Spector
A federal appeals court has denied a former Volkswagen
compliance executive's bid to overturn a decision keeping him
imprisoned before trial on charges he participated in the German
auto maker's emissions fraud.
The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on
Wednesday affirmed a district judge's order keeping Oliver Schmidt
behind bars in Michigan amid concerns he would flee the country if
released on a $1.6 million bond. Mr. Schmidt, a German citizen, for
several years headed Volkswagen's environment and engineering
office in Auburn Hills, Mich., where he liaised on compliance
matters with U.S. and California environmental regulators.
The appeals court found U.S. District Judge Sean Cox in Detroit
correctly weighed relevant legal factors when denying Mr. Schmidt's
request to be freed on bond during a hearing in March.
"The record demonstrates the district court considered the
relevant statutory factors, and we find no clear errors in the
district court's factual findings," three appeals court judges
wrote in a brief order. "We agree that no condition or combination
of conditions will reasonably assure Schmidt's appearance as
required."
The judges unanimously concluded that hearing oral arguments
from lawyers was unnecessary to rule on Mr. Schmidt's appeal.
A lawyer for Mr. Schmidt didn't immediately respond to a request
for comment. A Volkswagen spokeswoman declined to comment.
Mr. Schmidt has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Judge Cox in March said the case was a "very, very serious" one
that involved defrauding U.S. officials as part of a conspiracy to
rig nearly 600,000 diesel-powered Volkswagen vehicles with software
that allowed them to dupe government emissions tests and pollute
beyond legal limits on the road.
The government during the March hearing successfully argued that
Mr. Schmidt risked fleeing if released. He was arrested in January
at Miami International Airport before boarding a flight to
Germany.
Volkswagen as a corporation pleaded guilty to criminal charges
in the scandal earlier this year. In the U.S., the German auto
maker has agreed to fines and settlements collectively totaling
billions of dollars with the Justice Department, regulators, state
attorneys general, consumers and dealers.
Mr. Schmidt is one of seven Volkswagen executives or employees
criminally charged in the U.S. for alleged roles in the company's
emissions deception. Five others reside in Germany and aren't
expected to be extradited to the U.S. Another engineer pleaded
guilty in September to criminal conduct for helping Volkswagen
cheat on emissions tests and is scheduled to be sentenced in
July.
Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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