The German carmaker Volkswagen with CEO Oliver Blume (54) and the subsidiary Audi have apparently agreed to pay $85 million in damages with the state of Texas as part of the diesel fraud scandal. The companies have agreed to the agreement in principle, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement on Thursday.
“If a company thinks it can evade responsibility for breaking Texan laws, endangering Texans and polluting our environment, they’re dead wrong. Volkswagen and Audi found this out the hard way and now they’re paying the price.” like Paxton. Earlier this month, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state’s environmental lawsuit against Volkswagen and Audi can proceed.
Volkswagen has so far declined to comment on the case. The company had previously settled the US lawsuits triggered by the emissions scandal for more than $20 billion. However, as courts have ruled, that does not protect VW from continuing to be held accountable by local and state authorities.
In Germany, the former Audi boss Rupert Stadler (60) recently had in the fraud process surrounding the diesel scandal admitted wrongdoing. With that is Stadler becomes the first member of the VW Group Board of Management, which admitted in court to the allegation of fraud by omission. After the confession, the process, which has been going on since September 2020, could soon come to an end – probably in June.
However, one is still running billion-dollar test case by investors, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Braunschweig had recently declared that extensive evidence was necessary. In the process under the Capital Investors Model Proceedings Act (KapMug), there has been a dispute since 2018 about compensation for investors who suffered price losses in the billions after the diesel affair at VW was exposed.