San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/27/2016 -- An investor, who certain bonds from Volkswagen, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Volkswagen AG and its subsidiaries, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. and Volkswagen Group of America Finance, Inc, and certain senior executives over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws between May 23, 2014 through September 22, 2015

Investors who purchased a significant amount of bonds listed below from Volkswagen have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call 858-779-1554.

The securities at issue are listed in the chart below:

CUSIP Coupon Issue Date Issue Amount Maturity
928668AA0 1.25% May 23, 2014 $1.45 billion May 23, 2017
928668AB8 2.125% May 23, 2014 $1 billion May 23, 2019
928668AC6 Floating May 23, 2014 $500 million May 23, 2017
928668AD4 Floating May 23, 2014 $250 million May 23, 2016
928668AE2 Floating May 23, 2014 $300 million Nov. 23, 2015
928668AF9 1.60% Nov. 20, 2014 $750 million Nov. 20, 2017
928668AH5 2.45% Nov. 20, 2014 $750 million Nov. 20, 2019
928668AG7 Floating Nov. 20, 2014 $500 million Nov. 20, 2017
928668AK8 1.65% May 22, 2015 $1 billion May 22, 2018
928668AJ1 Floating May 22, 2015 $750 million Nov. 22, 2016
928668AL6 Floating May 22, 2015 $300 million May 22, 2018
928668AM4 2.40% May 22, 2015 $750 million May 22, 2020

According to the complaint was filed on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Volkswagen-issued bonds that were exempt from registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under Rule 144A between May 23, 2014 and September 22, 2015.

The plaintiff claims that as a result of the defendants' allegedly false and misleading statements and omissions, Volkswagen's bonds traded at artificially inflated prices—some at highs over 100 percent of par value— between May 23, 2014 and September 22, 2015, only to decline in value when the emissions scandal became public and that this decline in value resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to bondholders.

On September 18, 2105, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act ("CAA") to automakers Volkswagen AG and Audi AG and Volkswagen Group of America ("VW")alleging that certain four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 include software that circumvents EPA emissions standards for certain air pollutants.

The notice of violations by the EPA stated that the EPA has determined that VW manufactured and installed defeat devices in certain model year 2009 through 2015 diesel light-duty vehicles equipped with 2.0 liter engines and that these devices bypass, defeat, or render inoperative elements of the vehicles' emission control system that exist to company with CAA emission standards.

According to the EPA, the affected models include:

Jetta (Model Years 2009–2015)
Beetle (Model Years 2009–2015)
Audi A3 (Model Years 2009–2015)
Golf (Model Years 2009–2015)
Passat (Model Years 2014–2015)

More specifically the EPA claims that VW manufactured and installed software in the electronic control module of the affected vehicles that sensed when the vehicle was being tested for compliance with EPA emission standards. The EPA said that the software senses whether the vehicle is being tested or not based on various inputs including the position of the steering wheel, vehicle speed, the duration of the engine's operation and barometric pressure and that these inputs precisely track the parameters of the federal test procedure used for emission testing for EPA certification purposes. The EPA alleges that during EPA emission testing, the vehicles' emission control module ran software which produced compliant emission results under an emission control module calibration that VW referred to as the dyno calibration and that at all other times during normal vehicle operation the software was active and the vehicle emission control module software ran a separate "road calibration" which reduced the effectiveness of the emission control system and that as a result, emissions of NOx increased by a factor of 10 to 40 times above the EPA compliant levels, depending on the type of drive cycle.

The EPA says that VWW knew or should have known that its "road calibration" and software together bypass, defeat, or render inoperative elements of the vehicle design related to compliance with the CAA emission standards and that this is apparent given the design of these defeat devices. TheEPA said it is continuing its investigation and it may find additional violations as the investigation continues.

The New York times reported that the Obama administration ordered VW to recall nearly half a million cars from the road.

U.S. authorities reportedly could fine the Company $37,500 per vehicle, and with 482,000 vehicles as part of the investigation, the total fine could be $18 billion.

The California Air Resources Board also sent a letter to VW stating that it is investigating all model-year 2009 through 2015 light-duty diesel vehicles equipped with 2.0 liter engines.

On September 23, 2015, Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen, announced his resignation.

On September 25, 2015, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Volkswagen AG. The plaintiff claimed that between November 19, 2010 and September 21, 2015 defendants allegedly misled investors by failing to disclose that Volkswagen AG (OTCMKTS:VLKAY; OTCMKTS:VLKPY; OTCMKTS:VLKAF) had utilized a "defeat device" in certain of its diesel cars that allowed such cars to temporarily reduce emissions during testing, while achieving higher performance and fuel economy, as well as discharging dramatically higher emissions, when testing was not being conducted, that the use of this device allowed Volkswagen to market its diesel vehicles to environmentally conscious consumers, increasing its sale of diesel cars in the United States and abroad and, as a result, its profitability, and that as a result of defendants' scheme and false and misleading statements and omissions, Volkswagen's ordinary and preferred ADRs traded at artificially inflated prices between November 19, 2010 and September 21, 2015, reaching highs of$54.82 and $56.55 per ADR, respectively, on December 30, 2013.

Those who purchased a significant amount of bonds listed above from Volkswagen have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Michael Daniels
3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com