Volkswagen can’t seem to catch a break as Bloomberg is reporting CEO Matthias Mueller and Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch are being investigated for possible stock market manipulation related to the dieselgate scandal.
According to sources who spoke with the publication, Stuttgart prosecutors are looking into the roles that Mueller, Poetsch, and former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn played in the massive cheating scheme. In particular, investigators are trying to determine whether the executives were too slow to inform Porsche SE shareholders about the unfolding scandal.
Poetsch and Winterkorn are also facing an earlier investigation into possible manipulation of Volkswagen stock which was triggered by the same financial regulator as today’s probe.
The latest investigation seems to have caught some people off guard but Porsche SE spokesman Albrecht Bamler told Bloomberg, the holding company believes it “fulfilled its obligations to comply with capital market rules.”
Speaking of bad news for Volkswagen, AutoNews Europe reports Poetsch used the company’s annual general meeting to reveal Volkswagen won’t be sharing the results of the Jones Day investigation into the dieselgate scandal. As he explained, the automaker could face “massive fines” if the report were published.
