Volkswagen Executive Charged for Alleged Role in Conspiracy to Cheat U.S. Emissions Tests

Topics:  Volkswagen, Oliver Schmidt

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
9 January 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oliver Schmidt, a Volkswagen (VW) engineer, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed today for his alleged role in a nearly decade-long conspiracy to defraud U.S. regulators and U.S. Volkswagen customers by implementing software specifically designed to cheat U.S. emissions tests in hundreds of thousands of Volkswagen “clean diesel” vehicles.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division, Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan made the announcement.

Schmidt, 48, a resident of Germany, was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act. Schmidt was arrested on Jan. 7, 2017, in Miami and will make an initial appearance today, Jan. 9, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. EST before U.S. Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff of the Southern District of Florida.

According to the complaint, Schmidt joined VW in or about 1997, and from 2012 to March 2015 was general manager for VW in Auburn Hills, Michigan, where he was primarily responsible for communicating and coordinating with U.S. regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). In March 2015, Schmidt was promoted to principal deputy of a senior manager of VW and returned to VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, where he played a direct role in VW’s response to questions from U.S. regulators.

In about 2006, VW employees based in Germany in the engine development department started to design a new “EA 189” 2.0-liter diesel engine for sale in the United States. When employees realized that they could not design a diesel engine that would meet the stricter U.S. emissions standards, they allegedly designed and implemented software to recognize whether a vehicle was undergoing standard U.S. emissions testing on a dynamometer or being driven on the road under normal driving conditions (the defeat device) in order to cheat the emissions tests.

As part of the certification process for each new model year, including model years 2009 through 2016, the co-conspirators continued to falsely and fraudulently certify to EPA and CARB that VW diesel vehicles met U.S. emissions standards and complied with the Clean Air Act, according to the complaint affidavit. By the summer of 2015, U.S. regulators had discovered that VW diesel vehicles emitted substantially higher emissions when being driven on the road than when undergoing standard U.S. emissions tests and had repeatedly asked VW for an explanation of this discrepancy. The complaint alleges that Schmidt knew that the reason for this discrepancy was VW’s use of defeat device software. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2015, Schmidt allegedly agreed to travel to the United States to participate in direct conversations with U.S. regulators. According to the complaint, during in-person and teleconference meetings with U.S. regulators, Schmidt hid the existence of the defeat device from the U.S. regulators.

A criminal complaint is merely an accusation, and the accused is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

FBI’s Detroit Office and the EPA-Criminal Investigation Division are investigating the case. Deputy Chief Benjamin D. Singer and Trial Attorney David Fuhr of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Trial Attorney Jennifer L. Blackwell of the Environment and Natural Resource Division’s Environmental Crimes Section and White Collar Crime Unit Chief John K. Neal of the Eastern District of Michigan are prosecuting the case.

Press Release Number:
17-017

Date	Document Name & Details	Documents
30 December 2016 filing date	United States of America v. Oliver Schmidt Criminal Complaint United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan	PDF - 10.8MB - 18 pages