Judge sends VW manager to prison for 7 years in diesel scam

DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Wednesday sentenced a Volkswagen senior manager to seven years in prison for covering up a scheme to evade pollution limits on U.S. diesel vehicles, calling it an astonishing fraud on American consumers.

Oliver Schmidt, who is the second person to be sent to prison over the scandal, was dispatched to the U.S. from Germany in 2015 to meet with suspicious California regulators. But he didn't disclose rogue software that had long fooled authorities into believing that VW was meeting emissions rules on nearly 600,000 vehicles. He also misled American investigators and destroyed documents.