Oliver Schmidt is one of six VW executives indicted by the US authorities but is the only one daft enough to go on holiday to Trumpland where he now faces a jail sentence of 169 years on conspiracy and fraud charges.

Last week federal prosecutors persuaded Judge William Turnoff that Schmidt could be a flight risk if he is set free before trial.

They pointed out that there is no extradition treaty between the USA and Germany where Schmidt’s co-accused are lying low.

Schmidt and five other Volkswagen executives were charged last Wednesday in an indictment released in Detroit, the USA’s former Motown. They are accused of involvement in a plot to knowingly sell nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles that violated US pollution emissions standards.

The company has agreed to plead guilty and pay a record criminal penalty of $4.3 billion.

Schmidt’s lawyer, David Massey, said his client had flown from Germany to holiday with friends in Miami and that he will ask for bail when he goes to federal court in Detroit, where the case will be tried.

Schmidt claims he is innocent and maintains he has no intention of leaving the US.