Prosecutors in Stuttgart have charged two former Porsche executives with market manipulation in the carmaker’s failed bid to take over Volkswagen.
Wendelin Wiedeking and Holger Harter, Porsche’s former chief executive and chief financial officer respectively, are accused of issuing incorrect statements in 2008 over the company’s intention to acquire VW shares. The two deny the charges.
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The New York Times reported that prosecutors said they dropped charges of breach of trust against both men.
In a statement prosecutors in Stuttgart said that in at least five public declarations from March to October 2008, the company denied that it intended to raise its stake in Volkswagen. According to prosecutors, though, Wiedeking and Harter were already working to do exactly that.
Porsche eventually disclosed that it had raised its stake to about 75% of the voting shares of Volkswagen, causing VW’s stock price to soar. Investors who had bet that VW shares would fall lost billions of dollars.
Hedge funds and other investors seeking billions of euros in compensation from Porsche are said to be keenly following the case.
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