Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Saturday for his alleged role in the company’s suspected “scheme” to cheat emissions standards, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. The executive faces conspiracy charges for cheating the United States under the emissions scandal towards the end of 2015.
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A U.S. VW employee, James Liang, was charged in September and pleaded guilty to misleading regulators about diesel emissions and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
In March 2015, Schmidt was promoted as a principal deputy of a senior manager for the automaker and returned to VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, where he played a direct role in VW’s response to USA regulators’ questions.
Schmidt of playing a central role in the conspiracy to keep U.S. regulators from discovering diesel vehicles made by the company were programmed with so-called defeat devices to cheat on emissions tests.
The complaint says Schmidt and other VW executives conspired to violate the Clean Air Act by making false representations about the environmental quality of their cars.
Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt was arrested in Miami on Saturday (Sunday NZT), according to the US Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
It has been more than a year when Volkswagen AG (OTCMKTS:VLKAY) was caught cheating the diesel emission tests conducted by Environment Protection Agency (EPA) in United States.
Last week, a South Korean VW executive was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for falsifying emissions and noise pollution documents. This is a major development in the criminal investigation against the automaker.
The news of Mr. Schmidt’s arrest was reported earlier by the New York Times. It also said it wouldn’t be giving any compensation to United Kingdom owners, despite agreeing a $15 billion settlement in the U.S. for buying back affected cars and paying owners an additional $5000 – $10,000 (£4000 – £8000) each. Schmidt told federal regulators the test results were caused by technical problems rather than by deliberate cheating. Volkswagen’s criminal conduct led to a industry wide probe of emissions testing for cars.
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Ten thousand motorists are seeking £30,000 each (a total of £30 million), as they feel as they were misled into buying cars that emitted more nitrogen oxide than stated. VW is conducting talks with authorities to resolve the scandal.
