Last Wednesday – January 11, 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), along with Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a criminal and civil settlement against Volkswagen totaling $4.3 billion.

According to this press release, VW violated customs laws by submitting to CBP false statements and omitting material information with the intent to deceive or mislead CBP concerning the admissibility of vehicles into the US. More specifically, it is claimed VW falsely represented to CBP that nearly 590,000 imported vehicles complied with all applicable environmental laws while knowing these representations to be untrue.

VW plead guilty to three felony counts for false statements regarding their vehicle’s compliance with emissions and will be required to pay a $2.8 billion criminal penalty along with a $1.45 billion civil penalty to settle fraud claims by CBP and the US Environmental Protection Agency.