They called him the master, the cum-ex guru. Now he should go to jail. The Bonn Regional Court has sentenced the 72-year-old former star lawyer Hanno Berger to eight years in prison. The court sees it as proven that Berger, as a consultant to the Warburg Group, was jointly responsible for a tax loss of 278 million euros. He himself is said to have enriched himself by 13.7 million euros.
Berger fell over so-called cum-ex deals. Those involved had taxes refunded that they had not paid at all. The Warburg case is a nationwide focus because Chancellor Olaf Scholz played a role.
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Warburg owner Christian Olearius met Scholz several times when he was still the mayor of Hamburg. The Hamburg tax authorities then let go of a reclaim of 46 million euros in taxes that they had previously wanted to collect. That is why an investigative committee is running in Hamburg. Olearius’ trial is scheduled to begin in early 2023. At Cum-Ex he was personally advised by Berger.
Our reporters have accompanied Berger for many years. They visited him in his place of refuge in Switzerland, they read his polemics against the prosecutors, they watched Berger as he was led into the courtroom in handcuffs in April.
Today we report live from the conviction of Germany’s Mister Cum-Ex. We describe Berger’s reaction to his sentence, classify the sentence and explain why the 72-year-old will probably have to stay in prison longer than announced today.
Handelsblatt Crime appears every 14 days and can be heard wherever there are podcasts.
More: You can hear the last episode of Handelsblatt Crime here.