Investigations Lead to Stellantis Paying $300M in Diesel Emissions Cheating Case
The U.S. operating arm of Chrysler parent Stellantis was ordered on Monday to pay about $300 million to settle the criminal portion of its diesel emissions cheating case involving Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs and Ram 1500 pickups.
The dollar figure tracks with the amount listed in connection with the company’s guilty plea in June in U.S. District Court in Detroit to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, commit wire fraud and violate the Clean Air Act. FCA US LLC was fined $96 million and ordered to pay a forfeiture money judgment of more than $203 million, according to a Justice Department news release, which noted that the court also imposed a three-year term of organizational probation.
The release noted that the company has agreed to continue to cooperate with related investigations and implement a compliance and ethics program “Designed to prevent and detect fraudulent conduct throughout its operations and will report to the department regarding remediation, implementation and testing of its compliance program and internal controls.”
The vehicles had software designed to make them perform differently during government emissions tests than under normal driving conditions, leading them to pollute more than they were supposed to, with the company working to conceal this, prosecutors said.
Stellantis spokesman Eric Mayne referred a Detroit Free Press reporter back to a statement the company released in June, which said in part that “FCA US LLC has agreed to a settlement that resolves a U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation involving approximately 101,482 vehicles from model years 2014 to 2016 equipped with second-generation EcoDiesel V-6 engines. … Consumer claims related to the subject vehicles have already been resolved, and no additional recalls are required.”
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