BERLIN — German prosecutors on Monday filed aggravated fraud charges against Martin Winterkorn, the former chief executive of Volkswagen who led the company when it deceived regulators about its vehicles’ diesel exhaust levels.

The charges are the first criminal indictment in Germany against an individual in connection with the diesel scandal, which has cost Volkswagen tens of billions of dollars since it came to light in 2015.

In charging Mr. Winterkorn and four Volkswagen managers whose names were not released, the public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig tied the five to events reaching as far back as 2006, when the deception was initially conceived.

The timeline is significant because it rejects initial claims by Volkswagen that senior management became aware of the so-called defeat devices used to cheat emissions tests only after being confronted by the United States environmental authorities in 2015.