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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Wed Mar 9, 2016, 09:44 AM Mar 2016

US to employ bank fraud law in VW emissions probe

http://www.dw.com/en/us-to-employ-bank-fraud-law-in-vw-emissions-probe/a-19103416

The US Justice Department has reportedly issued embattled German carmaker Volkswagen a subpoena under a financial fraud law, which observers regarded as an escalation in the VW emissions cheating probe.

US to employ bank fraud law in VW emissions probe
09.03.2016

According to media reports on Tuesday, the Justice Department issued a subpoena under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (Firrea) to investigate Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal.

Firrea is a civil financial fraud law adopted in 1989 and employed, for example, by the Obama administration in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to extract huge settlements from big banks.

The law would allow the government's civil division to investigate fraud over the last 10 years - twice as long as many fraud statutes allow, the news agency Reuters said, quoting people familiar with the probe.

US business daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported the subpoena on Tuesday, saying the use of the law suggested the German carmaker was facing "another potential source of penalties" after admitting it used illegal software to cheat in US diesel emissions tests.

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http://www.dw.com/en/vw-warns-big-fines-could-mean-big-job-losses/a-19102166

At Volkswagen's third employee meeting since the dieselgate scandal broke, the head of the company's works council has admonished US regulators not to punish the automaker too severely lest even more jobs be put at risk.

VW warns big fines could mean big job losses

If the United States government slaps Europe's largest automaker with an unprecedented fine for disguising the toxic emission of its diesel engines, it could have "dramatic social consequences" for VW employees in the US and Europe, said Bernd Osterloh, who heads up VW's powerful works council.

"We very much hope authorities in the US keep these social and labor-related dimensions in mind," he said.

His remarks came Tuesday as thousands of workers gathered at Volkswagen's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, for an employee meeting that saw four high-ranking executives, including Osterloh, give speeches and talk about the company's plans for cutting costs and streamlining its workforce.

'We can only do this together'

VW CEO Matthias Müller told employees gathered in Wolfsburg it would take years for all of the consequences, financial or otherwise, of the company's deception to become clear.

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http://www.dw.com/en/vw-needs-to-talk-about-layoffs-executive/a-19099812

Wolfgang Porsche, the most powerful interlocutor of the Porsche-Piëch family, which owns a majority of Volkswagen shares, has said talking about layoffs at Europe's largest automaker should no longer be taboo.

VW needs to talk about layoffs: executive
07.03.2016

Porsche's words were welcomed by the head of the company's works council, Bernd Osterloh, who saw them as a departure from the board's earlier "policy of speechlessness" over its decision to cut VW's overhead costs by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year in the wake of its emissions scandal.

"If we determine, for example, that we have an excess of personnel in individual areas, we must be able to consider constructive solutions early on," Porsche said in an interview with the German news agency DPA on the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show.

~snip~

Damage control

An employees meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, at which VW's brand manager Herbert Diess is expected to present details of the company's plans for cutting investment at its biggest division by 1 billion euros.

Damage control is in full gear at VW as the automaker prepares to fend off lawsuits on several fronts. In Germany, shareholders are suing, alleging the company was too slow to inform the public about investigations into its diesel engines.
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US to employ bank fraud law in VW emissions probe (Original Post) unhappycamper Mar 2016 OP
"it could have "dramatic social consequences" - forget "too big to jail" it's now "too big to fine". PoliticAverse Mar 2016 #1
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