INVESTORS’ CLAIMS
VW ordered to face US lawsuit in emissions row
The plaintiffs — mostly US municipal pension funds — accused Volkswagen and ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn of failing timeously to inform the market of dieselgate’s likely impact
Washington — Volkswagen (VW) and former CEO Martin Winterkorn must defend an investor lawsuit in California over the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal, a US judge has ruled. The plaintiffs, mostly US municipal pension funds, have accused VW of not having informed the market in a timely fashion about the issue as well as understating possible financial liabilities, according to the court document seen by Reuters. The pension funds include those representing Arkansas State Highway Employees and Miami Police. The lawsuits said VW’s market capitalisation fell by $63bn after the diesel-cheating scandal became public in September 2015. The plaintiffs had invested in VW through American Depositary Receipts (ADR), a form of equity ownership in a non-US company that represents the foreign shares of the company held on deposit by a bank in the company’s home country. "Volkswagen is convinced that the accusations raised by buyers of the corporate securities [so-called American Deposi...
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