Mexican Media Brands
Ex-Porsche Execs Demand Acquittal on VW Stock Charges
Defense attorneys have asked a German court to acquit two former Porsche Automobil Holding SE executives of charges that they illegally manipulated Volkswagen AG shares in a failed attempt to take over the larger company eight years ago.
#legal
Share
Defense attorneys have asked a German court to acquit two former Porsche Automobil Holding SE executives of charges that they illegally manipulated Volkswagen AG shares in a failed attempt to take over the larger company eight years ago.
The lawyers say prosecutors “freely invented” the charges against former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and Chief Financial Officer Holger Haerter, Bloomberg News reports.
Porsche SE secretly amassed options to gain control of about 75% of VW shares but denied plans to acquire the company until October 2008. When the scheme became public, VW’s share price surged, and investors who had bet on the price falling lost billions of euros.
Prosecutors are seeking a €1 billion fines against each man, prison terms of 30 months for Wiedeking and 27 months for Haerter and an €807 million ($896 million) fine against Porsche SE, Bloomberg News reports. A verdict is expected on Friday.
RELATED CONTENT
-
U.S. Lawsuit Says Bosch Conspired with VW on Cheater Diesels
A U.S. lawsuit claims Robert Bosch GmbH conspired with Volkswagen AG to equip diesel-powered vehicles with software to cheat emission tests.
-
Report: Ghosn Kept List of Hidden Compensation
Japanese prosecutors have found a list apparently created by former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn that charts compensation the company didn’t report but he expected to receive, The Nikkei says.
-
VW Is Storing Nearly 300,000 Repurchased Diesels in U.S.
Volkswagen AG has stashed about 294,000 diesel-powered cars across the U.S. that it bought back from customers after admitting the vehicles were rigged to evade U.S. emission laws.