German Authorities Raid U. S. Law Firm Leading Volkswagen’s Emissions Inquiry -<br />By JACK EWING and BILL VLASICMARCH 16, 2017<br />FRANKFURT — German authorities searched the offices of the American law firm Volkswagen hired to conduct an internal investigation of its emissions<br />fraud, the carmaker confirmed on Thursday, raising questions about the credibility of the company’s efforts to uncover wrongdoing in its ranks.<br />Evidence collected by the law firm and shared with the American authorities formed the basis for Volkswagen’s<br />guilty plea in the United States last week over charges tied to emissions deception involving diesel engines.<br />But the search by prosecutors in Munich of Jones Day, which has a large presence in Germany, suggests<br />that the authorities believe the firm has not divulged all documents that may be relevant to the case.<br />The search and seizure of documents from the firm also signaled<br />that the German authorities have become more aggressive in pursuing criminal charges against the company and its luxury car unit Audi.<br />Still, Mr. Jahn said, it was unusual for prosecutors to seize documents from a law firm in an investigation of the firm’s client.<br />Documents the law firm collected were turned over to American courts, where they were used to secure indictments of six current<br />and former Volkswagen executives suspected of being architects of the fraud.<br />The raid targeted Jones Day, which since 2015 has been conducting a wide-ranging inquiry into who at Volkswagen was responsible for an emissions cheating scheme<br />that has already led to more than $22 billion in fines and settlements.
