Back in March, prosecutors in the U.S. filed sealed charges against former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn. But during that same time, Volkswagen's current CEO got a rare safe-passage deal from the U.S.

Bloomberg has learned from a couple of sources that the Justice Department has given Herbert Diess a safe-passage deal - basically allows him to travel without the worry of being arrested in connection to the diesel emission scandal. Diess also got a spoken assurance that he would be notified if prosecutors seek to charge him in the diesel emission mess.

Being the CEO of a major automaker, Diess needs to travel to various events around the world. By giving him this deal, Diess will be able to travel without the fear of being detained.

According to former prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers, the safe-passage deal for Diess is very unusual. They could only think of two reasons as to why Diess was given this deal - U.S. doesn't believe it will charge Diess or he is proving key information into the investigation.

That doesn't mean Diess is free from the scandal. He is still under investigation in Germany for possible market manipulation.

Source: Bloomberg (Subscription Required)