Volkswagen To Hire Former FBI Chief, Louis Freeh

The latest chapter in the saga of the Volkswagen emissions crisis is the decision by the automaker to bring on a big-name, ex-government hire.

Volkswagen is about to hire Louis Freeh, former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Reuters. The decision to bring Freeh on comes at a time when VW is dealing with major governmental challenges. The U.S. Department of Justice sued VW for upward of $46 billion for violating the clean air act though usage of the so-called defeat device in select diesel vehicles.

Freeh was the head of the FBI from 1993-2001, however the appointment from Volkswagen isn’t his first entry into the automotive industry. Daimler hired Freeh in 2010 amid allegations that the automaker violated the Foreign Corrupt Policies Act. Freeh was hired at the time as Daimler’s monitor to help see the organization through the crisis.

The appointment of Freeh to help steer Volkswagen though a part of the diesel emissions crisis isn’t the first appointment of a top FBI official to the VW situation. In mid-January 2016, California district judge Charles Breyer appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as the “settlement master,” for the over 500 civil lawsuits facing Volkswagen.

We’ve reported changes in the VW emissions story as the saga has seemingly changed week-to-week. The indication coming from the automaker as we ended 2015 was that the entire crisis was overblown. One potential $46 billion lawsuit from DOJ later ­– do you think the VW emissions scandal was blown out of proportions, or was the automaker trying to downplay a very costly crisis?