Today Attorney General Tim Fox announced a settlement requiring Volkswagen to pay more than $570 million after falsely marketing diesel vehicles in Montana.

"By selling, marketing and leasing diesel vehicles that have illegal and undisclosed defeat device software embedded in them to defeat the emissions control equipment," Attorney General Fox said. "So in essence, when you put the analyzers on, it would say that the emissions control equipment was working. As soon as you took the analyzers off, it was, of course, not working."

Fox said 2,800 Montanans were registered as owning or leasing vehicles affected by Volkswagen’s emissions fraud.

"This is a multi-state investigation with not only the Attorney's General of most of the states, but also with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission," Fox said. "It covers about over 500,000 vehicles nationwide. Year models between 2009 and 2015, both Volkswagen's and Audi's."

Of the $570 million, Fox said Montana will receive $2 million.

"I’m pleased that after months of uncertainty for Montana’s Volkswagen diesel customers, we’ll be able to make sure both they and our environment are protected to the fullest extent possible," he said.

Fox said affected Volkswagen owners will receive restitution payment of at least $5,100 and a choice between a buy back of the vehicle, or a modification to reduce nitrogen oxides.

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