The indictment is directed against a lawyer who formerly worked in Germany and whom the Cologne public prosecutor’s office accuses of particularly serious tax evasion in eight cases. The period of the crimes covers the years 2007 to 2015. In total, the lawyer is said to have persuaded the state to illegally reimburse around 428 million euros in capital gains taxes. 24 days of negotiations are scheduled until February 14, 2025.
“As one of the central players in the cum/ex market with German equity securities, the defendant is said to have carried out tax-damaging cum/ex transactions with various participants on a significant scale together with an accomplice who has already been legally convicted,” the court explained. According to the indictment, the defendant is said to have been an expert in investment law, particularly dealing with the establishment of complex fund structures.
In cum-ex transactions, investors moved shares back and forth around the dividend record date with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividend entitlement. As a result, tax offices refunded capital gains taxes that had not been paid. The state and thus the general public were cheated out of a sum in the double-digit billion range. The investigation and prosecution are likely to take years. Several proceedings in cum-ex matters have already taken place before the Bonn Regional Court, including against the probably best-known name in this topic, Hanno Berger.
Further links
From the Beck-Online database:
Wollweber/Gothmann: Tax technology and tax evasion: Who is liable? The ExpressTax DStR 2024 case, 1088
Mosbacher: Tax evasion at “Cum-ex” as commercial gang fraud? NJW 2021, 1916
Madauss: General offense and intent to evade tax NZWiSt 2021, 12
