Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess and supervisory board chief Hans Dieter Poetsch have avoided trial over "market manipulation" allegations with an out-of-court settlement of nine million euros, the German car giant said Tuesday. "According to the assessment of the supervisory board, it is in the best interest of the company for the proceedings to be terminated," VW said, adding that it therefore agreed to pay 4.5 million euros to settle the charges against each of the top executives. ys-hmn/bmm