VW engineer sent to the clink for three years for emissions-busting code
James Liang gets 40 months on the cooler and $200,000 fine

The engineer responsible for designing the software that enabled Volkswagen diesel cars to cheat on US emissions tests has been sentenced to 40 months in prison and fined $200,000.

James Liang pled guilty last year to defrauding the federal government and violating the Clean Air Act, in a plea deal with the US government in which he promised to provide details in return for a reduced sentence.

Despite federal prosecutors only asking for a $20,000 fine, Michigan district court Judge Sean Cox decided to make an example of the techie and ordered he pay 10 times that as a deterrent to other auto engineers and executives.