{"text":[[{"start":9.02,"text":"California is suing DuPont de Nemours, alleging the company fraudulently transferred assets to shelter them from creditors seeking compensation for harm caused by its products over several decades."}],[{"start":21.34,"text":"The new suit is part of litigation against some of America’s largest chemical companies over “forever chemicals”, which include substances used in products such as non-stick frying pans, cleaning sprays and firefighting foam."}],[{"start":34.84,"text":"The chemicals — PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — have been linked to health issues including reduced kidney and liver function and infertility. They are the subject of multibillion-dollar compensation claims against US and other manufacturers."}],[{"start":50.32,"text":"In a filing to a federal court in South Carolina on Thursday, Rob Bonta, California’s attorney-general, asked the court to prevent DuPont and its recently spun-off electronics business Qnity from transferring any proceeds from asset sales that were part of DuPont before it merged with The Dow Chemical Company in 2017."}],[{"start":68.88,"text":"The lawsuit, which Bonta described as “first-of-its-kind litigation”, alleges “wrongful conduct” as part of a continuing fraudulent transaction scheme that is illegal and designed to evade accountability over PFAS claims and liabilities."}],[{"start":82.96,"text":"The litigation follows separate court battles over companies’ use of controversial restructuring schemes involving bankruptcy law to shield assets from claims in mass tort cases. 3M, another manufacturer of PFAS, dropped its attempted use of a bankruptcy scheme following a court defeat in 2023."}],[{"start":100.72,"text":"DuPont declined to comment."}],[{"start":102.64,"text":"The latest claims by Bonta follow his filing of a PFAS lawsuit in 2022 against DuPont, 3M and more than a dozen other chemical manufacturers, alleging they had endangered public health, caused irreparable harm to the state’s natural resources, and deceived the public."}],[{"start":119.08,"text":"In the amended complaint filed on Thursday, Bonta alleges DuPont engaged in a series of fraudulent transfers designed to evade creditors such as California by covering up the transfer of assets between spin-off companies."}],[{"start":132,"text":"“These transactions were performed with the real intent to hinder, delay and defraud creditors or future creditors,” according to Bonta."}],[{"start":138.24,"text":"He alleges the transfer of rights to receive insurance proceeds from PFAS-related liabilities from Chemours, a DuPont spin-off created in 2015, to DuPont and Corteva, a 2019 spin-off, was a fraudulent transfer."}],[{"start":152,"text":"These rights were transferred for a sum that amounted to less than half the estimated insurance proceeds, the filing alleges. Nonetheless, Chemours will be responsible for indemnifying Corteva, DuPont and the previous DuPont company that existed before its merger with Dow."}],[{"start":172.16,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1786077255_7774.mp3"}