Volkswagen pollution cheats sued by United States government

This video is a Star Wars themed parody about polluting German car corporation Volkswagen.

EPA and U.S. Justice Department sue Volkswagen for emissions rigging

German automaker accused of falsifying emissions on 600,000 diesel engines

Jan 04, 2016 1:45 PM ET

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency are suing German automaker Volkswagen for falsifying the emissions on 600,000 diesel vehicles in the U.S.

A civil complaint filed in Detroit Monday does not include criminal charges but would involve additional monetary penalties for Volkswagen, which admitted in September that it had installed software on 11 million vehicles worldwide designed to beat emissions tests.

All told, the maximum possible fine would total in the billions, and comes on top of numerous class action suits being pursued on behalf of owners.

“Car manufacturers that fail to properly certify their cars and that defeat emission control systems breach the public trust, endanger public health and disadvantage competitors,” assistant attorney general John C. Cruden with the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said.

US files civil suit against Volkswagen for violating clean air laws. The Justice Department alleges that international scandal in which car manufacturer put illegal emissions devices in vehicles defied Clean Air Act: here.

Volkswagen US sales fell 9% in December, 5% in 2015: here.