Former deputy U.S. attorney general Larry Thompson was named independent corporate monitor overseeing compliance reforms at Volkswagen AG for the next three years by the U.S. government on Friday.

The announcement came as Volkswagen was sentenced Friday in U.S. district court in Detroit on three felony counts related to its decade-long scheme to sell vehicles containing software meant to cheat U.S. emissions tests. VW agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle the charges.