The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a Volkswagen AG executive Oliver Schmidt on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Oliver Schmidt, who headed the company's regulatory compliance office in the U.S. from 2014 to March 2015, was arrested on Saturday by federal investigators in Florida, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. blA

Schmidt is expected to be brought before court in Detroit on Monday, the NYT said.

Volkswagen has already agreed to pay up to nearly $16 billion to resolve civil claims in what has become one of the largest consumer class-action settlements ever in the United States, involving half a million cars.

Under the settlement, most car owners have the option of either selling their vehicles back to Volkswagen, or getting them fixed, provided the automaker could propose a fix that satisfied regulators.

The scandal has affected many Volkswagen and Audi models, including the Audi A3 and Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat diesel cars.