Throwing Ex-CEO Under the VW Bus Could Leave a Mark

Forcing former Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn to pay for at least some of the 25 billion euros ($29.9 billion) stemming from the diesel-rigging scandal could backfire on the automaker. U.S. criminal charges, disclosed earlier this month, gives Volkswagen an opportunity to go after Winterkorn as German law requires companies to make executives pay for corporate wrongdoing. Any effort to throw Winterkorn under the bus, however, could bolster investors suing VW for 9 billion euros for failing to inform the market about the diesel issue earlier and even drag other top executives -- Chairman Dieter Poetsch and new CEO Herbert Diess -- into the fray.