© Fabian Bimmer / Reuters
The FBI has arrested a Volkswagen executive as part of its investigation into the automaker’s emissions-cheating scandal. Oliver Schmidt has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States over his tenure as one of the company’s regulatory-compliance officials between 2014 and March 2015. He was arrested Saturday in Florida and will likely be arraigned this week in Detroit, Reuters reports. According to a spokeswoman for Volkswagen, Jeannine Ginivan, the automaker “continues to cooperate with the Department of Justice” but believes “it would not be appropriate to comment on any ongoing investigations or to discuss personnel matters.” Lawsuits filed in Massachusetts and New York by the states’ attorneys general assert Schmidt played a role in the auto company’s efforts to hide emissions cheating from regulators in the U.S.