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A former Volkswagen executive has pleaded guilty for his role in the German automaker's scheme to cheat US emissions requirements for diesel cars.

Oliver Schmidt, a former head of VW's engineering and environmental office in the US, admitted to participating in an attempted cover-up after regulators raised questions the "defeat devices".

He faces up to seven years in prison, and up to $400,000 (£306,000) in fines.

The scandal has cost Volkswagen as much as $25bn.

US prosecutors say Volkswagen installed special software in certain diesel vehicles that allowed them to perform better during emissions tests than they did under normal driving conditions.

The emissions were sometimes 30 times higher than permitted under US rules.

Volkwagen sold almost 600,000 vehicles with the devices in the US between 2006 and 2015, and about 11 million globally. The allegations have also prompted probes in other countries.

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Mr Schmidt was informed that the devices had been installed in 2015, after a nonprofit in the US exposed discrepancies and regulators confronted the company, according to court filings.

Mr Schmidt, who was arrested while travelling in Miami, was one of six people charged related to the scheme in January. The others live in Germany.

The US also charged a former manager at Audi - which is part of Volkswagen - in July.

A Volkswagen engineer last year pleaded guilty on related charges. His sentencing is expected later this month.

Mr Schmidt, who admitted to conspiring to defraud the US and violating the Clear Air Act, is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

In exchange for Ms Schmidt's guilty plea, US prosecutors dropped a charge of wire fraud. Mr Schmidt also agreed to deportation after his release.

Volkswagen has agreed to pay more than $4bn in fines in the US and to spend up to $25bn to satisfy claims from owners and others.

The emissions scandal in the US contributed to a wider backlash against diesel-powered cars, which were once believed to be more environmentally friendly. Four major cities have moved to ban such vehicles by 2025.

Volkswagen was also recently accused of teaming up with other carmakers in a breach of EU cartel rules.</s>Eight months after Oliver Schmidt — a former executive with Volkswagen’s regulatory compliance office — was arrested for his part in the company’s “Dieselgate” scandal, he has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges.

Schmidt pleaded guilty [PDF] Friday on charges of wire fraud and violation of the Clean Air Act, as well as a charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and giving a false statement related to the more than 600,000 vehicles VW was accused of equipping with defeat devices.

Sentencing for Schmidt, who could face up to seven years in prison, is scheduled for Dec. 6, the Associated Press reports, adding that the former executive could be deported after his sentence is complete.

Schmidt, who worked in the VW compliance office in Detroit from 2014 until March 2015, was arrested back in January.

He reportedly played a central role in trying to excuse the findings of the West Virginia study that first found VW vehicles included so-called “defeat devices” that skirted federal emissions standards.

The software was initially detected during independent analysis by researchers at West Virginia University who were working with the International Council on Clean Transportation, a non-governmental organization. The findings raised questions about emissions levels, and the EPA, along with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), began further investigations into the issue.

According to the complaint against Schmidt, he and other executives agreed to defraud U.S. regulators and customers and violate the Clean Air Act, as they knew vehicles did not meet emissions standards and knew that defeat devices were being used to evade those standards.

For his part, the complaint alleges that after the study was released in 2014, Schmidt tried to convince regulators that excess pollutants released by the vehicles when not undergoing emissions testing were the result of a technical issue, not any deliberate deception by the carmaker, the order against Schmidt claims.

“Schmidt attempted to and did mislead and deceive [California Air Resources Board] by offering technical reasons and excuses such as ‘irregularities’ or ‘abnormalities’ for the discrepancy without revealing the fundamental reason for the higher [nitrogen oxide] measurements on the road,” the complaint states.

Months after Schmidt’s explanations, VW admitted that more than 500,000 of its vehicles in the U.S. — and more than 11 million across the world — were equipped with the defeat devices that allowed as much as 40 times the allowable rate of nitrogen oxide to be emitted during regular driving.

Schmidt is the first of six former VW executives who were indicted [PDF] by federal authorities to plead guilty for his part in the scandal.

Back in January, federal authorities announced the indictment of six Volkswagen employees who allegedly played a part in creating the “defeat device” technology used in VW’s “clean diesel” vehicles to skirt federal emissions standards.

The six individuals are:
• Heinz-Jakob Neusser, head of development for VW Brand until 2015
• Jens Hadler, head of Engine Development for VW until 2011
• Richard Dorenkamp, head of VW’s Engine Development After-Treatment Department until 2013
• Bernd Gottweis, supervisor with responsibility for Quality Management and Product Safety until 2014
• Oliver Schmidt, General Manager in charge of the Environment and Engineering Office until 2015
• Jürgen Peter, VW liaisons between the regulatory agencies and VW until 2015

None of the employees were members of VW’s management board. However, several reported to the board.

While Schmidt was the first of the six to plead guilty, he was the second alleged Volks-villian to do so.

In Sept. 2016, James Liang, who worked at the carmaker in Germany and the U.S., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud regulators and customers.

Liang, who agreed to cooperate with the U.S. investigation into VW, was previously named as a developer of the defeat device in a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in July.</s>Under a revision of the charges, he pleaded guilty to two counts: conspiracy to defraud the federal government and violating the Clean Air Act. A third charge of aiding and abetting wire fraud was rolled into the conspiracy charge.

Mr. Schmidt admitted conspiring with other Volkswagen employees to mislead and defraud the United States in 2015 by failing to disclose that thousands of diesel cars were rigged to evade detection of excess emissions levels. He also admitted filing fraudulent emissions reports to regulators.

Mr. Schmidt faces maximum penalties of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge, and two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the environmental charge. He is to be sentenced on Dec. 6.

There was no discussion at the hearing of his potential role as a witness in other federal cases.

Volkswagen has already pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, customs violations and obstruction of justice.

The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in civil and criminal penalties in the case brought by the Justice Department. The penalties were part of $22 billion in settlements and fines that Volkswagen is paying in connection with the cheating scandal and the sale of vehicles that emit harmful levels of pollution.

Mr. Schmidt was a key player in Volkswagen’s efforts to deceive regulators in the United States about the company’s compliance with federal emissions rules. He acted as a liaison to federal and California regulators during a period when, according to the authorities, Volkswagen was engaged in an orchestrated attempt to conceal the emissions fraud.

Mr. Schmidt reported to Heinz-Jakob Neusser, the former head of engine development at Volkswagen, who is among eight Volkswagen executives to be charged in the United States. Mr. Neusser reported to the Volkswagen management board.

One of the executives charged, James Robert Liang, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and violating the Clean Air Act, and is awaiting sentencing.

Last month, Zaccheo Pamio, an Italian who worked for Volkswagen’s Audi luxury division, was arrested by German authorities after being indicted here.

The other executives charged in the United States are Germans residing in Germany, which does not extradite its citizens, making it unlikely they will face prosecution in an American court.</s>DETROIT — A German Volkswagen executive pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy and fraud charges in Detroit in a scheme to cheat emission rules on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles.

Shackled at the wrists and ankles and wearing red prison garb, Oliver Schmidt appeared before U.S. District Judge Sean Cox as part of the U.S. government’s case involving the automaker, which has admitted to using software to get around U.S. emission standards.

Schmidt, 48, is a former manager of a VW engineering office in suburban Detroit who was arrested in January while on vacation in Miami. He faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the U.S., wire fraud and violation of the Clean Air Act. A second count of giving false statement under the Clean Air Act carries a possible sentence of up to two years in prison.

He remains jailed and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 6. He also could face deportation.

Schmidt is accused of telling regulators technical problems were to blame for the difference in emissions in road and lab tests.

VW pleaded guilty in March to defrauding the U.S. government and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties, on top of billions more to buy back cars. Most of the VW employees charged in a scheme are in Germany and out of reach of U.S. authorities.

U.S. authorities had been pressing Volkswagen over emissions test discrepancies and the cheating had been going for several years. In 2015, news emerged in the U.S. of Volkswagen’s use of software that turned off emissions controls.

The software detected when cars were being tested and turned the emission controls off during normal driving. The result was the cars emitted more than 40 times the U.S. limit for the pollutant nitrogen oxide.

Schmidt told Cox on Friday that VW management directed him in 2015 not to discuss the software.

Some 11 million cars worldwide were equipped with the software. Meeting U.S. emissions standards were part of the company’s “clean diesel” marketing strategy.

“You knew these representations made to U.S. consumers were false,” Cox told Schmidt.

VW reached a $15 billion civil settlement in the U.S. with environmental authorities and car owners.</s>A German Volkswagen executive pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy and fraud charges in Detroit in a scheme to cheat emission rules on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles.

Shackled at the wrists and ankles and wearing red prison garb, Oliver Schmidt appeared before US District Judge Sean Cox as part of the US government's case involving the automaker, which has admitted to using software to get around US emission standards.

Schmidt, 48, is a former manager of a VW engineering office in suburban Detroit who was arrested in January while on vacation in Miami.

He faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the US, wire fraud and violation of the Clean Air Act. A second count of giving false statement under the Clean Air Act carries a possible sentence of up to two years in prison.

He remains jailed and is scheduled to be sentenced December 6. Schmidt also faces a fine of between $40,000 and $400,000 and could be deported back to Germany.

Schmidt is accused of telling regulators technical problems were to blame for the difference in emissions in road and lab tests.

'Schmidt participated in a fraudulent VW scam that prioritized corporate sales at the expense of the honesty of emissions tests and trust of the American purchasers,' Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jean E. Williams, who is in the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a news release following Friday's plea.

Schmidt was initially charged with 11 felony counts carrying a maximum of up to 169 years in prison. His attorney declined to comment after the plea hearing.

VW pleaded guilty in March to defrauding the US government and agreed to pay $4.3billion in penalties, on top of billions more to buy back cars. Most of the VW employees charged in a scheme are in Germany and out of reach of US authorities.

James Liang, a VW employee who pleaded guilty to misleading regulators, is cooperating with prosecutors and will be sentenced on August 25.

US authorities had been pressing Volkswagen over emissions test discrepancies and the cheating had been going for several years. In 2015, news emerged in the US of Volkswagen's use of software that turned off emissions controls.

The software detected when cars were being tested and turned the emission controls off during normal driving. The result was the cars emitted more than 40 times the US limit for the pollutant nitrogen oxide.

Schmidt told Cox on Friday that VW management directed him in 2015 not to discuss the software.

Some 11 million cars worldwide were equipped with the software. Meeting US emissions standards were part of the company's 'clean diesel' marketing strategy.

'You knew these representations made to US consumers were false,' Cox told Schmidt.

VW reached a $15billion civil settlement in the US with environmental authorities and car owners.

Volkswagen said on Friday it 'continues to cooperate with investigations by the Department of Justice into the conduct of individuals. It would not be appropriate to comment on any ongoing investigations or to discuss personnel matters.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-4761396/Volkswagen-exec-pleads-guilty-U-S-emissions-cheating-case.html#ixzz4ool4uFrC Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook</s>A Volkswagen executive pleaded guilty on Friday to federal charges arising from a continuing investigation into the automaker’s diesel

The charges against the executive, Oliver Schmidt, stem from his role in Volkswagen’s decade-long scheme to rig diesel cars with devices that circumvented

Schmidt, 48, the former head of Volkswagen’s environmental and engineering center in Michigan, had been facing three charges since his arrest in January.

He has been held without bond in prison pending trial. But last week his lawyers told a federal judge here that Schmidt had decided to enter a guilty plea.

Under a revision of the charges, he pleaded guilty to two counts: conspiracy to defraud the federal government and violating the A third charge of aiding and abetting wire fraud was rolled into the conspiracy charge.

Schmidt admitted conspiring with other Volkswagen employees to mislead and defraud the United States in 2015 by failing to disclose that thousands of diesel cars were rigged to evade detection of excess emissions levels. He also admitted filing fraudulent emissions reports to regulators.</s>Volkswagen AG executive Oliver Schmidt pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit in a diesel emissions scandal involving the German auto maker.

Under a plea agreement, Schmidt is expected to face up to seven years in prison and a fine of between $40,000 and $400,000 after admitting to conspiring to mislead U.S regulators and violating clean air laws.

In March, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to three felony counts under a plea agreement to resolve U.S. charges it installed secret software in vehicles to evade emissions tests and agreed to spend up to $25-billion to resolve various claims.</s>Volkswagen AG executive Oliver Schmidt pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit in a diesel emissions scandal involving the German automaker.

DETROIT: Volkswagen AG executive Oliver Schmidt pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit in a diesel emissions scandal involving the German automaker.

Under a plea agreement, Schmidt is expected to face up to seven years in prison and a fine of between US$40,000 and US$400,000 after admitting to conspiring to mislead U.S regulators and violating clean air laws.

In March, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to three felony counts under a plea agreement to resolve U.S. charges it installed secret software in vehicles to evade emissions tests and agreed to spend up to US$25 billion to resolve various claims.
A former Volkswagen executive pleads guilty to defrauding the United States and violating the Clean Air Act.