Stellantis unit sentenced in U.S. diesel emissions probe, will pay $300 mln

WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. enterprise of Fiat Chrysler Cars was sentenced Monday after pleading responsible in June to prison conspiracy and can pay practically $300 million to resolve a multi-year U.S. Justice Division diesel-emissions fraud probe.

FCA US LLC, previously Chrysler Group LLC, beforehand struck a plea settlement with the Justice Division and agreed to pay a $96.1 million effective and forfeit $203.6 million. FCA US, now a unit of Stellantis NV (STLA.MI), was additionally sentenced to a three-year time period of organizational probation.

The corporate had been charged with making false representations about diesel emissions in additional than 100,000 U.S. 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel automobiles.

The Justice Division mentioned FCA had conspired to cheat U.S. emissions checks.

The $300 million prison penalty “is the results of an exhaustive three-year investigation,” mentioned Assistant Legal professional Basic Todd Kim. “This decision reveals that the Division of Justice is dedicated to holding company wrongdoers accountable for deceptive regulators.”

The federal government famous FCA US had beforehand paid a $311 million civil penalty and extra $183 million in compensation to over 63,000 folks as a part of a class-action diesel lawsuit.

The automaker should conduct an preliminary assessment of its compliance with the Clear Air Act and inspection and testing procedures, submit a report and put together not less than two follow-up studies. Reuters first reported the deliberate settlement in Might.

The Justice Division mentioned FCA US put in misleading software program options supposed to keep away from regulatory scrutiny and fraudulently assist the diesel automobiles meet required emissions requirements.

Stellantis mentioned earlier it had accrued 266 million euros to account for the settlement. FCA merged with French Peugeot maker PSA in 2021 to kind Stellantis.

Three FCA US workers have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud america and violate the Clear Air Act and are awaiting trial.

The plea deal comes 5 years after Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) pleaded responsible to prison prices to resolve its personal emissions disaster affecting practically U.S. 600,000 automobiles in a scandal that grew to become referred to as “Dieselgate.” VW has paid greater than $30 billion in reference to the scandal.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Modifying by Bradley Perrett

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