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CNBC reported that the Department of Justice found the company liable for criminal wrongdoing. The car manufacturer is expected to face civil, and criminal penalties for infringing the Clean Air Act when it installed software on cars that infringe environmental standards intended to reduce smog, but the prosecutors have yet to agree on the specific criminal charges to bring against the automaker.

WSJ reports that, presently, the Dept. of Justice is negotiating settlement terms with Volkswagen. The automaker is expected to face both charges and substantial financial penalties.

The penalties may exceed the $1.2 billion which Toyota had to suffer for intentionally hiding unintended acceleration glitches, the WSJ reports. So far, the $1.2 billion fine is the biggest criminal penalty ever enforced on an American car maker to-date. “Volkswagen is devoted to earning the trust of our dealers, customers, regulators and the general American public,” a spokesperson of the company stated.

The emissions scandal

Volkswagen fitted the software on nearly 500,000 diesel automobiles in the U.S. The software, called a “defeat device,” covers the cars’ release of nitrogen oxide, a contaminant that adds to the production of ozone and smog and causes health problems such as asthma attacks.

The software is configured to turn on the full emission control system only when the vehicle is undertaking official emissions testing, but disregards same during daily driving situations when the cars pollute heavily. It means that during the motor vehicle testing, the vehicles meet emissions standards, but are actually emitting nitrogen oxides more than 40 times the required standard when the vehicle is on the road.

The CEO, Martin Winterkorn stepped down in September because of the emissions scandal.

Volkswagen confessed to installing the cheating software and is expected to receive praise from prosecutors for their cooperation with the investigation and agreeing to the civil accord in June that could cost the automaker more than $15 billion.