“It is my opinion that you are a key conspirator in this scheme to defraud the United States,” Cox told Schmidt in court. Schmidt, who oversaw emissions at VW’s office in Michigan from 2012 to early 2015, met with key California regulators in 2015 but did not disclose the rogue software. Schmidt’s lawyers argued that his role only heated up in 2015, years after others at VW hatched the scheme, which violated the Clean Air Act. “The defendant has a leadership role within VW,” federal officials said. Schmidt, who had returned to Germany, was arrested in Florida in January after attempting to return home from a vacation following the filing of an FBI complaint.

Source: The Guardian December 06, 2017 22:08 UTC