Ex-Audi boss sentenced for fraud over 2015 dieselgate scandal

The diesel emissions scandal cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and settlements

Rupert Stadler, Former boss of Audi, has become the highest-ranking executive to be convicted of fraud in the diesel emissions scandal from 2015.

According to reports, the ex-Audi boss has received a 21-month suspended prison sentence from a German court. Stadler will also pay a fine of 1.1 million euros, which will go to charitable groups. The sentence was a result of an agreement between Rupert’s lawyers, the judge and prosecutors after he pleaded guilty last month.

The Munich regional court also ordered suspended prison sentences and fines to the former head of engine development, Wolfgang Hatz and a former Audi engineer, identified only as Giovanni P for privacy reasons.

Reports state that Rupert Stadler, has been charged with fraud and false certification by prosecutors. Stadler is said to have let cars with the rigged software be sold even after the USA Environmental Protection Agency uncovered the fraud by Volkswagen & Audi in late-2015. Stadler resigned from his post as Audi chief and a member of the Volkswagen board in 2018 after he was held and detained for 4 months. Since then, Stadler has paid 4.1 million euros in damages.

The diesel emissions scandal cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and settlements and even resulted in two US executives being sent to prison.

Source: Autoblog