Articles by Karin Matussek and Arno Schütze

Deutsche Bank’s DWS Pays $27 Million in German Greenwashing Case

Deutsche Bank AG’s investment arm DWS agreed to pay €25 million ($27 million) to end a long-running German investigation into alleged greenwashing, in a similar settlement to the one it struck with US regulators in 2023. DWS gave a false …

Europe Braces for Freeze of US Foreign Corruption Practices Act

In recent years, Glencore Plc, Airbus SE and Credit Suisse have collectively paid more than $5.5 billion in fines for their roles in sprawling corruption cases. While law enforcement in France and the UK took the lead, the involvement of …

Ex-VW CEO Denies Criminal Charges Over Diesel Emissions Scandal

Volkswagen AG’s ex-Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn denied duping customers and taking too long to alert markets about diesel-emission cheating, telling a German criminal court he was never properly informed about the vast scale of the scam. Winterkorn said that …

Germany Is Europe’s Prime Target for Audacious ATM Bombings

In the early morning hours of May 6, 2023, an explosion occurred in a bank in the German town of Bad Homburg, sending shattered glass as far as 30 meters away. Two men had broken into the building and filled …

Lawsuits Targeting ‘Climate Washing’ Becoming More Frequent

Companies accused of misrepresenting their progress on tackling climate change are increasingly finding themselves the target of litigants, as activist groups look to hold some of the world’s worst polluters to account. As many as 47 new climate washing cases …

Former VW Executives Ordered to Testify in Investor Lawsuit

A German court will call former Volkswagen AG executives as witnesses in a €9 billion ($9.8 billion) investor lawsuit over the diesel emissions scandal to find out what the top brass knew about the the so-called defeat device used in …

Porsche SE Wins Crucial Ruling in Stuttgart Investor Class-Action Lawsuit

Porsche Automobil Holding SE won a crucial ruling in a €900 million ($976 million) class-action style lawsuit from investors who claimed the company should have warned shareholders about the diesel-emission software rigging at Volkswagen AG. The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court …

Twitter Sued in Germany in Bid to Force Vetting of Antisemitic Posts

Twitter Inc. was hit by a lawsuit in Germany by an anti-hate speech organization and a European group of Jewish students in a bid to force the platform to remove antisemitic content. HateAid and the European Union of Jewish Students …

Tesla Sued in Germany Over Car Surveillance Cameras, Carbon Footprint Claims

Tesla Inc. was hit by a lawsuit in Germany over potential privacy concerns linked to its car surveillance cameras and claims that buying its vehicles helps cut CO2 emissions. VZBV, the main German consumer association, filed the action in a …

Volkswagen Targeted in Court Case That Seeks to Eliminate Polluting Cars by 2030

First it was oil giant Shell Plc, now it’s the turn of Europe’s biggest carmaker. In the wake of a landmark Dutch ruling a year ago which ordered Shell to cut its emissions by 45% by 2030, a German organic …