Volkswagen has a lot to worry about with respect to its diesel-emissions cheating scandal. On the civil side, it?s already anticipating divvying out $15 billion to make right with regulators, states, and customers over hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles that contain a software-based cheat allowing them to emit many times the permissible amount of nitrogen oxide.
Then there?s the criminal side of the matter. U.S. Department of Justice investigators have found evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the case, and prosecutors are now holding preliminary discussions with Volkswagen?s lawyers, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites sources familiar with the matter.
Any settlement on the criminal side of the case likely would top the $1.2 billion levied against Toyota for its unintended-acceleration issues. It also could involve extradition of individuals, as many of those who worked on the emissions hardware and the software strategy live in Germany. An ongoing Department of Justice criminal probe has involved ?multiple individuals? and includes interviews with current and former employees of the company?and the review of about 1.5 million documents. The results could be quite different from those of the ?comprehensive legal review? conducted by the law firm Gleiss Lutz?which looked at internal-investigation information gathered by another firm, Jones Day?that reached the conclusion that VW executives weren?t responsible for serious violations.

It?s still uncl...