VW Exec Expected to Plead Guilty in Diesel Cheating Scandal

Oliver Schmidt—the Volkswagen AG executive facing multiple U.S. charges in connection with VW’s diesel emission cheating—is expected to plead guilty on Aug. 4.

Schmidt was arrested in Florida seven months ago and charged with 11 felonies that represent a potential combined prison term of 169 years. At the time he was head of VW’s U.S. emission compliance office.

Schmidt has been in jail since his arrest and has been denied bail. It isn’t clear whether he remains a VW employee. A spokesperson for the U.S. District Court in Detroit says prosecutors and Schmidt’s lawyers told Judge Sean Cox yesterday that the defendant has decided to plead guilty.

Last month U.S. prosecutors issued international arrest warrants through Interpol for five former VW employees—all of them in Germany—for their alleged roles in the scandal. Earlier this month the U.S. Dept. of Justice also filed a criminal complaint against Giovanni Pamio, a former Audi diesel engineering executive.

A seventh VW manager, James Liang, has pleaded guilty to misleading regulators about the emission test cheating. He has been cooperating with U.S. prosecutors and is expected to be sentenced on Aug. 25.