German Investment Funds Prepare Billion Dollar Court Case Against Volkswagen

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Volkswagen was all grins when litigating hedgies lost the first round in court in the U.S. (it’s on appeal) and when the public prosecutor in Stuttgart dropped some of the investigation into former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and former CFO Holger Härter (only to add new angles.) Until the matters are cleared, Volkswagen and Porsche officially are not married, unofficially, they share all available beds.

Now, a new lawsuit causes frozen faces and acid reflux at the very top of Volkswagen: German investment funds intend to involve prominent supervisory board members of Volkswagen AG in a billion dollar court case.

According to Germany’s Wirschaftswoche, the Munich law firm CLLB is preparing the paperwork for a suit brought against Volkswagen. According to the magazine, papers will be filed in September at the court in Braunschweig, right around the corner from Wolfsburg. The suit alleges that members of the Volkswagen supervisory board had known of stock market manipulations by Volkswagen, but had not informed the public – as required by law.

The list of witnesses reads like a who-is-who of German business and politics. Listed as witnesses are the former Porsche chief Wendelin Wiedeking, VW CEO Martin Winterkorn, VW supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piëch, and Germany’s President Christian Wulff, who had a seat on the board when he was premier of Lower Saxony.

Wirtschaftswoche does not know the size of the award the CLLB lawyers are going for, but it assumes it will be around €2.86 billion ($4.24 billion).

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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