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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.
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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.
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