TL;DR
DOJ charges two VW engineers with insider trading for buying Rivian stock before the joint venture announcement
Federal prosecutors on Friday arrested two Volkswagen engineers in San Jose, California, and charged them with insider trading for buying Rivian stock before VW’s multibillion-dollar joint venture with the electric vehicle maker was publicly announced. Michael Stamp and Marcus Plank, both based at VW’s US operations, each face one count of federal securities fraud carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. The indictment, filed by the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, alleges the two men used confidential knowledge of the partnership, internally codenamed Project Climb, to purchase Rivian shares in the weeks before the deal was revealed on June 25, 2024.
Stamp allegedly made approximately $250,000 in profits from his trades, while Plank netted roughly $50,000, according to the indictment. A family member of Plank also purchased Rivian shares and made about $12,000, prosecutors said. Rivian’s stock rose 23 percent on the day the joint venture was announced, rewarding anyone who had bought shares in advance.
The indictment includes details that suggest the defendants were aware of the legal risks. Stamp allegedly searched “statute of limitations insider trading” on Google eight days before the joint venture was announced, according to prosecutors. A family member of Plank searched the same phrase in German, the indictment states.
The joint venture at the centre of the case has since grown into one of the most consequential partnerships in the automotive industry. Originally valued at five billion dollars, it has expanded to nearly six billion dollars and is focused on developing software-defined vehicle architecture for VW’s next-generation cars, even as Rivian pushes into the mass market with its R2 SUV. VW overtook Amazon as Rivian’s largest shareholder in May with a stake of nearly 16 percent after a one billion dollar share purchase tied to a software milestone.
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The case is being prosecuted by the same SDNY office that charged a Google engineer with insider trading on Polymarket in May, part of a broader federal push to pursue corporate insiders who exploit non-public information in the technology and automotive sectors. Both defendants were arrested in San Jose and are expected to appear before Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York. The case was announced by US Attorney Jay Clayton, who has made insider trading enforcement a priority for the office.
