VW Stock Skids on Fraud Report

The stock of Volkswagen AG, the giant West German auto maker, plunged today after the company said it lost up to $258 million in possibly fraudulent foreign exchange deals.

Separately, the prosecutor’s office in the northern city of Braunschweig said Volkswagen had filed a criminal complaint against unidentified people for fraud, breach of trust and forgery. News of the losses and investigation caused Volkswagen shares to tumble in heavy trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange. Brokers said the company’s stock was trading at a volume roughly four times normal levels and had lost 9.1% of its market value in the past two sessions.