Either for the major fraud involved, or for the people who died due to the increased emissions? Volkswagen Diesel Scandal 2015: Emissions Likely Killed Up To 94 People In The US, Analysis Shows
I know this isn’t GD, but I find it difficult to believe that the evidence in regards to deaths will hold up in court. All of those sources are explicitly biased. And looking over Wiki’s RICO entry none of the major examples they list have anything to do with cases of industrial polluting, they’re all dealing with illegal money-making schemes.
I doubt that anyone who had anything to do with it is under US jurisdiction.
Presuming the CEO of VW didn’t do any of the actual illegal coding, then he didn’t “material participate” in the crime. However, if he ordered these actions be done, then he could be prosecuted under RICO. At least that’s my understanding.
That’s the point though isn’t it; this wasn’t illegal?
In terms of tort, how do you prove a direct causal link to an individuals death …
I’m pretty jaded when it comes to RICO. RICO stands for “Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations.” It was intended to allow the feds to shut down Mob-controlled businesses. Trying to extend it to cover generically-shady activities is a slipperly slope. The charge of “wire fraud” has already fallen down that slope. There was a time when a wire fraud charge meant something, but these days it’s basically the corporate version of a disorderly conduct charge. “We need to charge your company with something, so if you plead guilty to Wire Fraud, we’ll move on to working out the penalty so we can put this thing to rest.”
In order for RICO act to be invoked the crime involved has to be racketeering. Racketeering is defined as being one of 35 crimes which the mafia were traditionally involved in such as murder, extortion, drug dealing, counterfeiting, human trafficking, or weapons dealing. Conspiring to defeat emissions standards is not racketeering so the RICO statutes could not be invoked.
I’m not sure about that. Many states have laws that make tampering with the emission systems illegal. I could certainly see an argument that what was done was tampering. Whether you could prove a direct link to deaths is another matter.
Couldn’t it also be criminal fraud? Customers bought those cars thinking they were clean, and that might have been part of the decision to buy one.
They are trying to make something stick in the UK, but from a different angle:
Fraud is one of the predicate offenses enumerated in RICO, so I think RICO charges could be brought. However, it’s more likely it’ll just be a large fine and a promise not to do it anymore.
Well, lawyers are going to make money at least: