SACRAMENTO - Diesel performance parts manufacturer Sinister Mfg. Company Inc. – doing business as “Sinister Diesel” – pleaded guilty to criminal charges today in federal court and agreed to pay a total of $1 million in criminal fines and civil penalties. The company also agreed to implement a compliance program and not to manufacture, sell or install any device that defeats a vehicle’s emissions controls.
Sinister Diesel pleaded guilty to a two-count Information, charging it with conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act (CAA) and defraud the United States and with violating the CAA by tampering with the monitoring device of an emissions control system of a diesel truck. Under the plea agreement, the defendant agrees to pay a $500,000 criminal fine.