Ex-Gm Executive Is Indicted

Thu., Dec. 12, 1996

Compiled From Wire Services

General Motors claimed another victory Wednesday in its corporate spying complaint against Volkswagen with the criminal indictment of a key executive who defected to VW.

Prosecutors in the central German city of Darmstadt scheduled a news conference for Friday to announce charges against former GM purchasing chief Jose Ignacio Lopez and three other former GM managers for alleged betrayal of “trade and company secrets.”

“The indictment of Lopez and his collaborators speaks for itself. It is a clear statement by an independent prosecutor that the allegations we have made concerning the theft of our data are well-founded,” GM spokesman John Mueller said at the company’s Detroit headquarters.

Lopez left GM in 1993. The prized executive, who was about to be named head of North American operations, took seven other managers with him.

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Ex-Gm Executive Is Indicted

Jesse Tinsley

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