Federal prosecutors are closing in on criminal charges against General Motors Co. over a faulty ignition switch linked to more than 100 deaths, but they are still weighing whether to charge individual employees, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office has determined GM likely broke the law by making misstatements about the ignition-switch glitch in older Chevrolet Cobalts and other cars for more than a decade and will likely extract a fine exceeding $ 1 billion from the company, the people said. GM GM, +0.34% will either plead guilty or enter a so-called deferred-prosecution agreement, they said.
A deferred-prosecution agreement would mean the company would face charges that would be suspended and ultimately dismissed if it abides with prosecutors' terms.
Prosecutors' investigation is at an advanced stage, though the criminal case may yet fall apart, some of the people said.
Prosecutors believe that GM is likely to strongly argue against a guilty plea, one of the people familiar with the matter said. If the case moves forward, it would be the second brought by U.S. prosecutors in an unprecedented crackdown on auto makers for safety problems.
"We are cooperating fully with all requests, but we are unable to comment on the status of the investigation, including timing," a GM representative said Saturday.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com
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