Volkswagen admitted it lied about emissions tests for about 11 million diesel vehicles.

In September, a Volkswagen engineer [James Robert Liang],  pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, to commit wire fraud, and to violate the Clean Air Act. Liang admitted VW could not design a diesel engine to meet U.S. emissions standards.  Instead, he and other engineers created and installed cheating software. The software recognized if a vehicle was undergoing standard U.S. emissions testing on a dynamometer or being driven on the road under normal driving conditions. During emissions testing, the software would “cheat” by sending false data. VW agreed in June to spend up to $14.7 billion to resolve federal and California civil allegations of cheating on emissions tests and lying to customers. The settlements did not resolve federal criminal liability.

AS A RESULT OF THE ABOVE the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] reportedly arrested a Volkswagen compliance officer [CO].  Oliver Schmidt led Volkswagen’s regulatory compliance office in the United States from 2014 to March 2015. The CO will face charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States for his role in VW’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. He was arrested Saturday in Florida and is expected to be arraigned Monday in federal court in Detroit, according to a report by the New York Times.

Schmidt allegedly “played a central role in trying to convince regulators that excess emissions were caused by technical problems rather than by deliberate cheating,” the Times said.

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An executive for Volkswagen has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly conspiring to defraud the United States.

Oliver Schmidt headed the carmaker’s U.S.-based regulatory compliance office from 2014 to 2015. He was arrested on Saturday.

Volkswagen admitted in September of 2015 that it intentionally programmed certain vehicles to activate emissions controls only during laboratory testing in order to meet U.S. environmental standards.

Officials allege that Schmidt, before VW’s admission, played a central role in trying to convince regulators that the excess emissions were caused by technical problems rather than deliberate cheating.

Starting in late 2014, Mr. Schmidt and other Volkswagen officials repeatedly cited false technical explanations for the high emissions levels, the state attorneys general said. In 2015, Mr. Schmidt acknowledged the existence of a so-called defeat device that allowed Volkswagen cars to cheat emissions tests.

Volkswagen eventually said that it had fitted 11 million diesel cars worldwide with illegal software that made the vehicles capable of defeating pollution tests.

The software enabled the cars to sense when they were being tested for emissions and turn on pollution-control systems to curb emissions at the cost of engine performance. But those controls were not fully deployed on the road, where cars spewed nitrogen oxide at up to 40 times the levels allowed under the Clean Air Act.

Read more here: nytimes.com = http://nyti.ms/2iUVDHK