Cum-ex architect Berger also convicted in Wiesbaden
Published: Monday, Nov 25th 2024, 17:40
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The tax lawyer Hanno Berger, who is considered the driving force behind the cum-ex tax scandal, has already been convicted by the Bonn Regional Court. Now the Federal Court of Justice has confirmed a further judgment.
The second verdict against cum-ex key figure Hanno Berger for serious tax evasion is also final. The Federal Supreme Court (BGH) has dismissed Berger's appeal against his conviction at the Wiesbaden Regional Court to a total prison sentence of eight years and three months, according to Germany's highest criminal court in Karlsruhe. This means that both sentences against Berger - at Bonn Regional Court and in Wiesbaden - can now be set off against each other.
Berger is regarded as a pioneer of the cum-ex share deals in Germany, which defrauded the state of an estimated ten billion euros or more. Berger promoted the deals to banks and the rich as legally secure tax optimization, advised on the structure and earned millions from them. "Mr. Cum-Ex" later fled from justice to Switzerland until he was extradited to Germany in February 2022.
Two sentences against "Mr. Cum-Ex" In December 2022, the Bonn Regional Court had already sentenced Berger to eight years in prison for three cases of particularly serious tax evasion and ordered him to repay around 13.7 million euros.
Berger was also charged with serious tax evasion in Wiesbaden and sentenced in May 2023. The tax lawyer was also ordered to repay proceeds of crime amounting to 1.1 million euros.
With the confirmation of the Wiesbaden verdict by the Federal Court of Justice, the two verdicts can now be combined to form one sentence. This means that Berger faces a maximum of 15 years in prison - but the actual sentence is likely to be significantly less. The decision is up to the Bonn Regional Court.
Legal defeats in all instances
Berger's lawyer had asserted procedural errors against the Bonn ruling and appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court, but failed with his complaint in February. At the time, Berger announced that he intended to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
In cum-ex deals, which had their heyday between 2006 and 2011, banks and investors were reimbursed for capital gains tax that had never been paid. Around the dividend record date, shares with ("cum") and without ("ex") dividend entitlement were shifted back and forth between participants. In the end, tax offices refunded unpaid taxes. The loophole was closed in 2012. In 2021, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that cum-ex transactions are to be regarded as tax evasion.
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