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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a bipartisan multistate coalition of 16 states and Guam in a lawsuit filed against Indiana-based EIDP – the chemical company historically known as DuPont – its parent company, Corteva, and a newly created entity called “Vylor.” The lawsuit seeks to unwind the defendants’ coordinated effort to fraudulently move DuPont’s most valuable business assets into Vylor and leave DuPont’s massive liabilities behind, including those associated with its past use and emission of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals.”
“Forever chemicals do not disappear, and neither does DuPont’s responsibility to clean them up,” said Attorney General Brown. “Shifting its most valuable assets into a new company is a complicated maneuver with a simple goal: avoid accountability. We will not allow DuPont to stick Marylanders with the bill to remove PFAS from our environment.”
States and taxpayers across the country have been damaged by DuPont’s PFAS chemistry, which has contaminated the drinking water of more than 100 million Americans. It will cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars to remove PFAS from their drinking water, clean up PFAS sources in the environment, and compensate the public for the costs and impacts of DuPont’s chemistry. Additionally, DuPont faces thousands of claims from firefighters and others alleging they have been injured by exposure to DuPont’s PFAS.
PFAS do not break down easily. They contaminate drinking water, groundwater, and soil and are costly to remove. Studies have linked PFAS exposure to certain cancers, infertility, thyroid disease, and childhood developmental harm. Testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found PFAS in the blood of nearly every person tested since 1999.
The states have filed claims across the country alleging that DuPont knew or should have known about the dangers of PFAS when DuPont made or sold products containing those chemicals. Internal documents show that for decades DuPont concealed from state regulators, the public, and consumers who used DuPont’s products, its growing knowledge of the risks these chemicals posed to human health and the environment. The states assert that DuPont failed to warn the public about the dangers of PFAS and concealed the dangerous nature of those products.
Despite that pending litigation, on October 1, 2026, DuPont and Corteva transferred its Pioneer seeds business – a major corn and soybean operation – to a newly formed company called Vylor. As a result, Vylor received about three-quarters of the value held in DuPont and Corteva that was previously available to satisfy the states’ claims and other creditors of DuPont. Corteva intentionally structured the transaction so that Vylor did not accept any responsibility for the massive PFAS liabilities DuPont faces. Those liabilities were designed to stay with DuPont, which now has significantly fewer assets to satisfy the states’ claims. The states allege the transaction was designed to interfere with the creditors’ rights to collect on these liabilities and to require DuPont to address the contamination it caused.
The coalition of states is asking a Marion County, Indiana, court for a temporary restraining order to freeze the assets. The proposed order would stop DuPont and its parent, Corteva, from using remaining funds for dividends and stock buybacks and stop Vylor from selling or pledging the seed assets it just received.
Joining Attorney General Brown in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington, and the Government of Guam.
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