The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued Volkswagen and its former chief executive Martin Winterkorn, claiming it defrauded investors in relation to its handling of the Dieselgate scandal. The firm has said it will "vigorously" contest the charges.
According to the SEC, the charges relate to more than $13 billion (£9.8 billion) in bonds Volkswagen issued between April 2014 and May 2015. That was the time period between the publication of the initial study that found higher than claimed emission levels from VW Group diesel-engined cars and the firm’s admission it had installed ‘defeat devices’.
The SEC complaint alleges that Volkswagen made false and misleading statements to investors about its financial standing, vehicle quality and environmental compliance. It says that “by concealing the emissions scheme, Volkswagen reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in benefit by issuing the securities at more attractive rates for the company”.
Volkswagen issued a statement, saying that: “The SEC’s complaint is legally and factually flawed, and Volkswagen will contest it vigorously.”
The firm added that the securities were “sold only to sophisticated investors who were not harmed and received all payments of interest and principal in full and on time.
“The SEC does not charge that any person involved in the bond issuance knew that Volkswagen diesel vehicles did not comply with US emissions rules when these securities were sold, but simply repeats unproven claims about Volkswagen AG’s former CEO, who played no part in the sales.”
The SEC suit seeks to recover “ill-gotten gains” through civil penalties and fines, and also calls for Winterkorn to be barred from serving as a director of a US company.
Volkswagen has already paid more than £18.8 billion in the US in criminal and civil fines and other settlements relating to Dieselgate. It is currently defending its actions in an ongoing court case in Germany, where investors are pursuing around £8.2 billion in damages.
Read more
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Good to know !
Good to know !
No, no...
No, no, you don't understand, VW cars are all very good and the clean diesels really are clean, and a lovely honest, genuine company like VW would never make up untruths about their wonderful products, because they are so perfect that they would never need to. Lalalalala.
The sooner
the better, VW have acted disgracefully, if it was up to me, I wouldnt stop until all the MD's had resigned or been imprisoned.
How or why people still buy their products is beyond me, the financial impacts are already easy to identify be the lower quality materials in the latest VAG vehicles (but dont mention it too loud), because motoring journalist still try to tell the public how premium they are
Citytiger wrote:
i think for any logical human being that there is, the main thing now is that VW have had their turn at facing a fraud (and a deserved one i must admit) but they are coming back into the market with some of the best diesel cars that money can buy.
you only need to take a trip in their mk7.5 golf gtd to realise that. if you get the opportunity to take, even a seat, in their facelifted toureg and you get a real sense of luxury mixed with ride comfort and they are fun to drive. i know a family who owned a discovery and have now got a toureg and they are testiment to it. not to mention the cheaper price tag.
feel free to think what you like but with a history that VW have and the current line up i think that its unfair to rule them out completely, after all doing so would cut hundreds - even thousands of jobs and then everyone would blame it on brexit...!
i'm not a journalist but an honest citizen who is a liveing testament to the greatness and supremacy of VW's cars.
i know a lot about cars wrote
I'm guessing you are speaking without owning a VW? Hence you have not suffered a Transporter that needed a new engine after 60,000 miles, like many owners have. Or a 1.5 TSI engine that kangaroo hops (VW say they're working on a fix...). Or a DSG gearbox that hesitates just when you need power.
i have suffered VW's 'quality' and am another who will never buy another.
Jeremy wrote:
Your guess is far from right. I have owned many of VW's cars. Currently a 64 Reg sharan with 186,500 miles on the clock (as well as one previous to this which is still running at 273,000 miles), also a VW up which is going very strong, a 1.0 litre that hasn't had any mechanical failure in its 4 year lifespan and I have an Ibiza (with a vw engine in) which still continues to go strong at 57,000 miles.
I wouldn't consider buying anything but VW as their service can't be beaten and I have never suffered an issue, maybe your'e just a bad driver?