California Attorney General Rob Bonta is arguing chemical giant DuPont’s latest corporate restructuring is an illegal scheme designed to evade “forever chemicals” liability.
Bonta, a Democrat, filed an amended complaint Thursday that lays out his case for how the cost-splitting agreement between the legacy PFAS manufacturer and its spinoff companies could deceive creditors and cheat the public out of millions of dollars in settlement funds.
“The DuPont Defendants cannot game the system by illegally moving assets out of reach, dodging liabilities for the harm they have caused, and calling it restructuring,” Bonta said in a statement. “I look forward to ensuring that these companies are held accountable for PFAS pollution and that their assets cannot be hidden behind corporate walls while their responsibilities are left behind.”
The amended complaint asks Judge Richard Gergel, overseeing the multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, to name Qnity Electronics, DuPont’s newest spinoff, as a defendant and void the business transfers. Gergel was nominated by President Barack Obama.
