When F.B.I. agents learned that a prime suspect in the Volkswagen emissions scandal was traveling to the United States, investigators knew they were on the cusp of a rare feat: the arrest of an overseas corporate executive accused of wrongdoing.

On Saturday night, agents swooped in to arrest the Volkswagen executive, Oliver Schmidt, as he prepared to depart Miami International Airport for Germany, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the case, one of whom described the circumstances of the arrest. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

Mr. Schmidt, formerly Volkswagen’s top emissions compliance executive in the United States, has been charged with defrauding the government and violating the Clean Air Act. He made an initial appearance on Monday in federal court in Miami. He will be moved to Detroit, where he was originally charged and where court documents suggest that he might be valuable in the government’s investigation into other Volkswagen officials.

Mr. Schmidt, 48, played a central role in Volkswagen’s cover-up of its diesel emissions cheating, according to an affidavit from an F.B.I. agent that was unsealed on Monday. Even as the company obfuscated details of its cheating program from regulators, Mr. Schmidt warned executives in Germany that the company could face criminal charges for its actions, the affidavit says.