A senior manager at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has been charged with conspiring to rig diesel-emissions tests on the automaker’s vehicles, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed on Tuesday. The charges come months after the company agreed to a costly legal settlement of lawsuits over the deception.
Federal prosecutors are charging Emanuele Palma, a manager for diesel drivability and emissions, with wire fraud and violations of the Clean Air Act, among other crimes.
From 2011 to 2017, Mr. Palma and unnamed co-conspirators misled regulators and the public by purposefully calibrating emissions-control systems so that cars would produce lower emissions on regulatory tests than in other situations, according to the indictment, dated Sept. 18.
In a statement, a Fiat Chrysler spokesman said the company would “continue to fully cooperate with the authorities, as we have throughout this issue.” Mr. Palma did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.
Fiat Chrysler agreed in January to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits accusing it of rigging certain diesel-powered pickup trucks and Jeeps with illegal software to pass emissions tests.
In 2017, the Justice Department sued the company over the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that Fiat Chrysler had illegally used software that switched off vehicles’ pollution controls under certain driving conditions. The E.P.A. argued that the software enabled the vehicles to pass emissions tests while allowing them to release higher levels of pollutants in normal driving.
Under the settlement announced in January, the company agreed to pay $305 million in civil penalties in connection with those claims and another $6 million over allegations of illegally importing noncompliant vehicles. It also reached a settlement with California, which sued separately.
Fiat Chrysler is not the only auto company in the cross hairs of the federal government. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the emissions-certification process at Ford Motor. And in 2017, Volkswagen agreed to pay more than $20 billion to settle civil and criminal lawsuits over the rigging of vehicles to cheat on emissions tests.
VW Executives and Ex-C.E.O. Are Charged With Market ManipulationVolkswagen’s top two leaders were charged by German prosecutors with failing to inform investors of the U.S. investigation into emissions cheating.Sept. 24, 2019
Fiat Chrysler’s Diesel Effort Produces a Costly SettlementThe accord reached in lawsuits over false emissions readings could cost nearly $800 million, including penalties, fixes, warranties and compensation.Jan. 10, 2019
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