Former Volkswagen Exec Charged With Conspiracy To Defraud US

Oliver Schmidt, who used to serve as the top emissions compliance manager for Volkswagen AG (ADR) VLKAY in the U.S., was arrested by the FBI on Saturday, charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States over the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. The former executive will appear U.S. District Court in Miami on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the company has been accused of hiding the scandal from regulators, but has not been charged with a crime. Nonetheless, it still has to pay a settlement of more than $3 billion with the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency.

In September of 2016, James Liang, another former Volkswagen employee, was charged with misleading regulators about these diesel emissions. After pleading guilty, he agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s investigation; he has not been sentenced yet, as the Bureau elucidates who else was responsible for the crimes in question.

In an unrelated development, a British law firm initiated legal action against the company on Monday. The practice is seeking compensation for drivers impacted by the emissions scandal in the U.K.

Shares of Volkswagen traded up almost 4.3 percent on Monday.