Biography & Early Wealth Journey

During his time at Volkswagen, Schreiber was instrumental in moving the Direct-Shift Gearbox (DSG) from development to production. In fact, he's listed as the inventor on several patents related to the DSG. This dual-clutch transmission is now in about 4 million vehicles under the VW brand and its affiliates, particularly in higher-end vehicles.

(Harold Cunningham/Getty Images)

(Harold Cunningham/Getty Images)

According to German magazine Der Spiegel, Volkswagen offered its former employee about $22 million in royalties for his work on the transmission, but he believes that isn't nearly enough. He is suing the company in hopes of receiving hundreds of millions of dollars, which, if he was actually the inventor of this transmission, he probably deserves.

Primary Income Streams & Multi-Million Contracts

The trick for Schreiber is going to be the Munich court's interpretation of the patent law, which states that both parties must agree on a "reasonable" recompense for the inventor. It will be interesting to see what the court sees as "reasonable," because if Schreiber is correct, he ought to be seeing an incredible payday very soon.

This only adds insult to injury for Volkswagen, which is still dealing with the fallout from its infamous emissions scandal.