United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND Case No. 19-cv-01391-CRB (AGT)

EXCHANGE COMMISSION,

Plaintiff, DISCOVERY ORDER v. Re: Dkt. No.

VOLKSWAGEN

AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, et al., Defendants.

After VW’s “clean diesel” emissions fraud came to light in 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice brought criminal charges against the company, and VW pleaded guilty to three felony counts. Before VW’s plea, DOJ met with VW’s then-criminal counsel, from Jones Day, six times in 2016. During those meetings, Jones Day shared findings from its own investigation of VW and referred to 274 VW documents that were “central to the investigation.” Kalbers v. U.S. Dep’t of Just., No. 18-cv-08439-FMO-PJW (C.D. Cal.), Dkt. 71-1, Stoller Decl. ¶ 34; see also id. ¶¶ 37, 41. Those documents represented a tiny fraction of the approximately 6.5 million documents that VW produced during the criminal investigation. See id. ¶ 34. Fast forward to now. The SEC is suing VW for securities fraud, based on VW’s failure to disclose its emissions fraud to investors. In discovery, VW has agreed to share with the SEC all relevant,…