A former banker at private bank MMWarburg has been sentenced to several years in prison for tax evasion in two counts. The convict described the cum-ex business as the “biggest mistake” of his professional life.
A former MM Warburg manager has been convicted of cum-ex deals.
(Bloomberg) A former manager of MM Warburg has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for his involvement in cum-ex transactions that cost German taxpayers 109 million euros.
The Bonn Regional Court sentenced a former managing director of Warburg Invest on Wednesday for particularly serious tax evasion. The public prosecutor had asked for seven years and his defense a suspended sentence.
After months of denying the allegations, the banker finally admitted in January that he knew the deals were illegal.
The 63-year-old has been before the same court since September that sentenced a former colleague to 5 1/2 years in prison in June.
In cum-ex deals, the actors used short sales to get a double refund of dividend taxes on German stocks. The practice was put on hold in Germany in 2012 when tax rules were changed. Cum-Ex is estimated to have caused tax damage of more than 10 billion euros in Germany. The Federal Court of Justice declared the transactions criminal last year.