Washington, DC (September 14) – The Independent Corporate Compliance Monitor and Auditor for Volkswagen AG, Larry D. Thompson, announced today that Volkswagen AG and its subsidiaries and affiliates met the commitments established under the terms of its 2017 plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). (Note that Porsche AG and Porsche Cars NA were excluded entirely from the monitorship.) Since his appointment in 2017, Thompson and his team, which included Beveridge & Diamond’s (B&D) Chairman Benjamin F. Wilson as Deputy Monitor – Emissions & Environmental, have worked to assess whether Volkswagen’s compliance and ethics programs were reasonably designed and implemented to prevent and detect violations of anti-fraud and environmental law.

“I am honored to have served as Deputy Monitor under Larry’s leadership, and to have worked with the team he assembled to oversee Volkswagen’s compliance reforms. I am also proud of the multi-office, multi-disciplinary team B&D deployed for this project that involved over 20 lawyers and staff at varying levels of work intensity over the past three years, ably led by firm principals Tom Richichi, Julius Redd, Dan Schulson, Bina Reddy, Parker Moore, Heidi Knight, and Stacey Sublett Halliday (Independent Consultant for B&D)” Mr. Wilson said. “Now more than ever, as environmental and ethics issues command the attention of companies, their customers, and stakeholders, we remain available to assist clients worldwide with these matters,” he added.

The U.S. government appointed Thompson, a former U.S. Deputy Attorney General as the Independent Corporate Compliance Monitor and Auditor for Volkswagen. His appointment was part of Volkswagen’s criminal plea agreement stemming from the company’s scheme to sell diesel vehicles containing software designed to cheat on U.S. emissions tests. Thompson and his team oversaw Volkswagen’s compliance reforms and successful implementation of the terms of the plea agreement and consent decree.   To assist him in monitoring Volkswagen’s corporate compliance, Thompson assembled a team of leading corporate fraud, environmental, and compliance experts, including Wilson and the B&D team. 

“I am honored to have led such a knowledgeable, experienced and absolutely dedicated team,” said Thompson in his news release. “I cannot say enough about their hard work, diligence, efficiency, and professionalism. Obviously, this project was critically important on numerous levels, but this was the right team for the challenge. All team members should be proud of their outstanding collective accomplishment.”

Beveridge & Diamond helps clients address the enforcement risk spectrum, from proactive prevention, compliance counseling, and civil inspection to criminal investigation and defense. Our team assists clients to establish systems to prevent, detect, and correct problems before they escalate, or defend them when they break down. In addition to the VW matter, the firm's environmental crimes and corporate compliance program experience include serving as the Court-Appointed Monitor for the Duke Energy coal ash spill remediation project. B&D has a number of lawyers with high-level federal government experience including John Cruden, former Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources Josh Van Eaton, former DOJ senior trial attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Allyn Stern, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Counsel.