(Bloomberg) – Three Takata Corp. executives were accused in a U.S. indictment of misleading federal regulators, consumers and car manufacturers about the company's faulty air bags as part of a years-long scheme that led to the biggest recall in history.

Shinichi Tanaka, Hideo Nakajima and Tsuneo Chikaraishi were charged in federal court in Michigan. The indictment came just hours before prosecutors are expected to announce that Takata has agreed to plead guilty and pay as much as $1 billion. A press conference in Detroit is scheduled for later Friday.

Related: NHTSA says 313,000 Honda vehicles have high-risk Takata air bags