Six Additional Volkswagen Employees Now Face Dieselgate Charges

The fallout from a scandal that broke in September 2015 after percolating for years has spilled over into the new decade. German prosecutors have laid charges against six Volkswagen employees whom they claim played a role in deceiving regulators and the public.

While the vehicles involved in the diesel emissions scandal have either been fixed or crushed, Germany’s still marching ahead with its investigation into the matter, seeking out those who helped fool the world into believing the brand’s “clean diesel” technology was legit.

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UAW Prez Rory Gamble, Aka Mr. Clean, Under Federal Investigation

UAW President Rory Gamble, who took the helm of a scandal-rocked union following the resignation of former prez Gary Jones late last year, is reportedly under federal investigation himself.

Gamble embarked on a wide-ranging clean-up operation soon after taking the job in the hopes of avoiding federal oversight, while at the same time charting a bribery- and corruption-free path forward for the union. The investigation’s scope is a broad one, peering beneath every stone, and Gamble claims this particular probe is par for the course.

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Still Talking: Ghosn Names Names at Nissan, Wishes He'd Taken Up Obama on That Whole GM Thing

Former Renault and Nissan boss and current fugitive from Japanese justice Carlos Ghosn said he’d open up in front of the cameras, and boy, did he ever. After discussing what he says was brutal confinement and “injustice” at the hands of Japanese officials, as well as the motivation behind the alleged “plot” to oust him from his Nissan chairman position, Ghosn meandered into other topics of interest.

Clearly, the former auto titan wishes nothing but the worst for the company he once chaired.

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Carlos Ghosn Comes Out Firing in Beirut Press Conference

There’s no love lost between former Renault and Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn and the judiciary of Japan, and the same goes for the automaker that dropped him as chairman following his November 2018 arrest — an arrest he fled in the waning days of 2019.

A fugitive from justice following his daring escape from Japanese authorities, Ghosn opened up during a Wednesday press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, reserving his harshest remarks for Nissan and the country in which its head office resides.

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Japan Issues Arrest Warrant for Mrs. Ghosn; Carlos Prepares Press Conference

Tokyo prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Carlos Ghosn’s wife Carole on Tuesday for allegedly lying during testimony. While Japanese authorities have also speculated that she may have helped orchestrate the movie-like escape of her husband from the island nation, something Mr. Ghosn proactively denied, she’s only officially charged with perjury.

The warrant accuses Carole Ghosn of having falsely denied knowing or meeting individuals tied to the company who received payments from Nissan Motor before funneling a portion of those funds to a firm owned by her husband — which is one of the reasons why he was arrested in the first place.

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Ghosn Escape Evolves Yet Again As Japan Mulls Border Tightening

Perhaps former Renault and Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will put rumors to rest when he speaks to the media on Wednesday. Then again, the international fugitive, who fled house arrest in Japan to a refuge in Lebanon on December 29th, might remain tight-lipped about the details of his escape, as Ghosn’s main beef is with Nissan and the Japanese judiciary.

As a new week dawns, so too does another take on Ghosn’s flight from justice.

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Ghosn Update: Turkish Jet Operator Files Complaint, Pilots Detained, As Japanese Authorities Remain Tight-lipped

The Carlos Ghosn escape saga continues to evolve without any help from the man himself. Stating Thursday that he alone orchestrated his escape from Japan, where the former auto titan was living under house arrest, Ghosn has not offered the full story on how he slipped out of the country and made his way to Lebanon.

What is clear is that Ghosn’s two-part escape involved the use of two private aircraft and a plane swap in Turkey. The operator of those aircraft isn’t happy.

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Ghosn: Listen Up, It Was All Me

Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan seemed an epic affair, but the man who was reportedly smuggled out of the country in a musical instrument case by mercenaries posing as a Gregorian band wants to make one thing clear.

The former Renault CEO and Nissan chairman added to the story via a statement released Thursday.

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Man in the Box: Carlos Ghosn's Bond-worthy Escape Leads to Interpol Warrant

The former auto giant who once hosted a Marie Antoinette-themed wedding party at the Palace of Versailles (and later reimbursed Renault for the supposedly “corporate” event) had his wife to thank for being able to spend New Year’s Eve as a free — but wanted — man.

According to Lebanese news outlet MTV, Carole Ghosn was the mastermind of her husband’s escape from Japan, where Carlos was being held under house arrest while awaiting trial. Like his wedding, Carlos Ghosn’s flight from captivity had all the flair of a blockbuster film plot.

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Ghosn Update: A Message From Carlos

Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s flight from Japan, where we was awaiting trial on charges of underreporting income and breach of trust, has been confirmed by none other than the man himself.

Late Monday, Ghosn issued a message from Lebanon.

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The Great Escape: Carlos Ghosn Reportedly Flees House Arrest in Japan, Turns Up in Lebanon

Japanese authorities are attempting to confirm reports that former Nissan and Renault chairman Carlos Ghosn, arrested in Japan in November 2018 and since charged with two counts each of improper financial reporting and breach of trust, has fled the country.

Numerous media reports claim Ghosn, who holds Lebanese (as well as French and Brazilian) citizenship, appeared in Beirut on Monday. How he managed to slip out of the country where he was awaiting trial is still murky.

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No Christmas Wishes Granted Here: Nissan Hit With Lawsuit, Executive Departure

As a terrible year draws to a close, Nissan can’t seem to put its bad luck behind it. In a case of “the hits keep on coming”, the automaker’s vice chief operating officer, Jun Seki, announced his departure from the company less than a month after taking on the position.

Seki, once a candidate for the CEO chair, was tasked with helping turn around the struggling company in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal and concurrent sales plunge. At the same time, an American dealer group is suing Nissan over alleged Ghosn-era financial misdealings.

A merry Christmas it was not.

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The French (Canadian) Connection: Cops Put Kibosh on Toyota-loving Theft Ring

A Grinch-like presence that haunted the driveways and dealerships of Eastern and Southern Ontario for much of the year has finally met the long arm of the law. Sadly for owners, a great number of mostly Toyota-built vehicles have already found new homes on the other side of the Atlantic.

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Hardscrabble Car Salesman Wins Defamation Trial

Sometimes the little guy wins.

Elon Musk, founder of a rocket ship company and CEO of a rising automobile company/cult, left a federal courtroom on Friday more emboldened than ever to say whatever he wants. A unanimous verdict handed down by the jury declared that calling an unknown British diver “pedo guy” on Twitter did not constitute defamation, thus allowing Musk, who has 30 million followers on the social media platform, to sidestep $190 million in damages.

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UAW Not Cooperating in Corruption Probe, Says U.S. Attorney

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Matthew Schneider, has said new details about the ever expanding UAW corruption probe have been trickling in. But he’s also criticizing the union for not providing adequate cooperation throughout the multi-year investigative process. Schneider indicated there was new evidence included additional details of malfeasance from former UAW President Gary Jones shared by the union in November. While the prosecutor did not offer details, he said it was the type of information that should have been reported to his office, not publicly.

Automotive News surmised he was likely referencing details released late last month by the union’s executive board in an effort to remove Jones and Region 5 Director Vance Pearson. That report included allegations that Jones let his daughter use a UAW-rented townhouse in Palm Springs, California. Sources familiar with the situation have confirmed that the union publicly released information against the two at roughly the same time it was handed it over to the U.S. attorney’s office.

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  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉