This is where the trial of tax attorney Hanno Berger is being conducted.
(Photo: dpa)
Wiesbaden In the Wiesbaden Cum-Ex trial against the tax attorney Hanno Berger, the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office is demanding a long prison sentence. On Thursday, she pleaded for a total of ten years and six months in prison for three offenses of serious tax evasion, according to a spokesman for the authority. According to this, 1.15 million euros in proceeds of the crime are to be confiscated from the assets of Berger and a secondary participant. Berger should remain in custody until the end of the proceedings.
The public prosecutor’s office had accused Berger before the Wiesbaden district court of having obtained certificates for a good 113 million euros in unpaid taxes from 2006 to 2008 with complex cum-ex stock deals. In addition, Dax shares worth 15.8 billion euros were traded with the real estate investor Rafael Roth together with former employees of the Hypovereinsbank.
The profits were divided. A verdict in the trial, which has been ongoing since June last year, could come on May 30th. Before that, the accused Berger or his lawyers will plead. In Wiesbaden, Berger has two public defenders at his side because the defenders had resigned their mandate.
Cum-Ex industry caused billions in damage
Berger is considered the architect of cum-ex deals in Germany. With this fraudulent concept, banks and investors have never had paid capital gains tax refunded and cheated the state by an estimated double-digit billion amount.
Investors pushed shares with (“cum”) and without (“ex”) dividend rights back and forth around the dividend record date until the authorities could no longer see through. Certificates on capital gains tax and solidarity surcharge were issued several times.
As a lawyer, Berger had touted the deals with banks and the wealthy as legally secure tax optimization, advised on the construction of the deals and earned millions. By fleeing to Switzerland, he had avoided a court case for years. Berger was then extradited to Germany in February 2022 and sentenced to eight years in prison by the Bonn Regional Court in December.
Two separate lawsuits were conducted against Berger because the district courts of Bonn and Wiesbaden could not agree on a merger. In the event of a conviction in Wiesbaden, a total penalty will be formed, said a court spokeswoman.
After both judgments became final, this was done by a subsequent decision by the court, which sentenced Berger to a higher sentence. The criminal court in Bonn imposed a prison sentence of eight years. However, the Bonn judgment is not yet final. Berger, on the other hand, had appealed. The case is before the Federal Court of Justice for a decision.
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