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. 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.
A former Volkswagen executive pleads guilty to defrauding the United States and violating the Clean Air Act.