Former Volkswagen executive arrested by FBI for fraud

According to foreign media reports, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Oliver Schmidt, a former executive of the Volkswagen Group, and accused him of deliberate fraud in the United States.

According to the New York Times, Oliver Schmidt served as head of Volkswagen's U.S. regulatory compliance department from 2014 to March 2015. According to people familiar with the matter, Schmidt was arrested by the FBI on January 7 local time.

According to reports, the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts accused Schmidt of deliberately hiding information about Volkswagen's diesel cheating. According to the attorneys general's complaint, Schmidt and other Volkswagen employees gave incorrect technical explanations of the actual emissions of Volkswagen's diesel vehicles several times. According to reports, Schmidt will appear in the Miami federal court on January 9 local time.

Volkswagen did not comment on the report, but said it would "continue to fully cooperate with the U.S. justice department in its follow-up work, and now is not the best time to respond to the progress of the investigation and personnel status."

At present, the FBI has not commented on this matter.

On January 6, the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea sentenced a local Volkswagen executive to one year and six months in prison, accusing him of deliberately falsifying emission and noise test documents in order to obtain an import vehicle license.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.