Cum-Ex key figure
Hanno Berger was also legally convicted in Wiesbaden
The tax lawyer, who is considered the driving force in the cum-ex tax scandal, has already been legally convicted at the Bonn regional court. The Federal Court of Justice has now confirmed another judgment.
The second verdict against the Cum-Ex key figure Hanno Berger for serious tax evasion is also legally binding. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has rejected Berger’s appeal against his conviction at the Wiesbaden Regional Court to a total prison sentence of eight years and three months, as Germany’s highest criminal court in Karlsruhe announced. This means that both judgments against Berger – at the Bonn regional court and in Wiesbaden – can now be added to a total sentence.
Berger is considered a pioneer for the cum-ex stock deals in Germany, with which the state was cheated of at least ten billion euros. Investors were reimbursed for taxes that they had not paid. The tax lawyer praised the transactions with banks and wealthy people as legally secure tax optimization, advised on the construction and earned millions from them. “Mr. Cum-Ex” later fled justice to Switzerland until Berger was extradited to Germany in February 2022.
Two verdicts against “Mr. Cum-Ex”
In December 2022, the Bonn Regional Court had already sentenced Berger to eight years in prison and ordered to repay around 13.7 million euros for three cases of particularly serious tax evasion. It was a tax loss of around 275 million euros.
Berger was also charged in Wiesbaden with three cases of serious tax evasion. According to the indictment, the transactions resulted in tax losses of around 113 million euros, and a real estate investor who has since died was the beneficiary. The judgment was made in May 2023 (file number: 6 KLs – 1111 Js 18753/21). Berger was also sentenced to repay the proceeds of the crime amounting to 1.1 million euros.
With the confirmation of the Wiesbaden judgment by the Federal Court of Justice, a total sentence can now be formed from the two judgments. This means that Berger faces a maximum of 15 years in prison – but in reality it is likely to be significantly less. The decision on the final sentence lies with the Bonn Regional Court.
Legal defeats in all instances
Berger’s lawyer had alleged procedural errors against the Bonn verdict and had gone to the Federal Constitutional Court, but his appeal failed there in February. At that time, Berger announced that he wanted to contact the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
In cum-ex deals, which reached their peak between 2006 and 2011, banks and investors were reimbursed for capital gains taxes that were never paid. Around the dividend record date, shares with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividend entitlement were moved back and forth between those involved. In the end, tax offices refunded unpaid taxes. The legal loophole was closed in 2012. In 2021, the BGH decided that cum-ex transactions should be viewed as tax evasion.
dpa
Source: Stern
