Volkswagen has agreed to plead guilty and pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties in relation to its diesel emissions cheating scandal, the US Justice Department announced last Wednesday.

This settlement includes a $2.8 billion criminal penalty and $1.5 billion in civil environmental, customs, and financial penalties. That's in addition to a $14.7 billion civil settlement announced last June and a $1 billion settlement this past December. In the fall of 2015, VW admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars were equipped with sophisticated "defeat devices" used to cheat on emissions tests. The scam produced environmentally friendly results when tested.

Six VW executives and employees have been indicted in connection with the conspiracy to cheat on emissions tests. These include Oliver Schmidt, head of VW's regulatory compliance office from 2014 to early 2015, along with Heinz-Jakob Neusser, head of development for the VW brand; Jens Hadler, head of engine development; Richard Dorenkamp, head of VW's engine development after-treatment department; Bernd Gottweis, a supervisor with responsibility for quality management and product safety; and Jürgen Peter from the VW quality management and product safety group.