Former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn has been charged by US prosecutors in Detroit over the diesel emissions scandal.
He has been accused of conspiring to mislead regulators about the German car maker’s efforts to cheat the emissions tests of its diesel-fuelled vehicles.
Volkswagen did not immediately comment.
An indictment filed in secret in March was unsealed on Thursday in a US district court and named numerous former executives.
Mr Winterkorn, 70, resigned soon after the scandal over polluting vehicles in the US became public in September 2015.