Ex-FBI chief likely to oversee payments to air-bag victims

DETROIT – A federal judge in Detroit says he wants to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller III to oversee nearly $1 billion in restitution payments to victims in the Takata air-bag scandal.

Judge George Caram Steeh said Thursday that Mueller has “outstanding credentials” and already has a similar role in Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating case in California.

He says Takata and the U.S. Justice Department have indicated support for Mueller as special master. But he wants a formal response in the next few weeks.

In February, Takata pleaded guilty to concealing a deadly defect in millions of its air-bag inflators. The company agreed to pay $125 million to individual victims and $850 million to automakers.