The Philanthropy of a Corporate Cheat: Volkswagen

The scandal of Volkswagen, the German automaker, and its intentional marketing of diesel cars with fraudulent pollution measuring and monitoring software meant to circumvent polluting exhaust standards, has trumped the General Motors ignition defect scandal as potentially the worst example of corporate dishonesty in recent years.

Volkswagen is a mammoth German company, employing 270,000 people in the country, a third of all Germans working in the automotive industry, and 600,000 people worldwide. Some Volkswagen cars are manufactured in other countries, however, including in the U.S.

With significant manufacturing and other corporate activities in the U.S., Volkswagen is also a corporate grant-maker. What does the grant-making of the nation’s foremost corporate cheater look like?