Frankfurt Attorney General's Office brings charges against four former Commerzbank employees

The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office has brought charges against four former Commerzbank employees on suspicion of serious tax evasion. The four men are two Britons aged 66 and 59, a 61-year-old German and a 60-year-old American. According to the public prosecutor's office, they are responsible for tax damage of more than 20 million euros.

The Frankfurt judiciary is thus pushing forward the criminal investigation of fraudulent cum-ex share deals at the expense of the state treasury. In cum-ex deals, investors had tax authorities refund taxes on dividends that were not paid at all. To achieve this, participants moved shares with (cum) and without (ex) dividend entitlement back and forth around the dividend record date.

These businesses had their peak period from 2006 to 2011. According to estimates, the tax authorities incurred double-digit billions in damage. In 2012 the legislature reacted, and in 2021 the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) decided that cum-ex transactions should be viewed as tax evasion.

In this specific case, it concerns stock transactions in 2008. The four bankers are said to have developed, approved and implemented the cum-ex transactions "in conscious and intentional cooperation." According to the information, two of the accused were working in Frankfurt am Main at the time of the crime, the other two in London. Commerzbank did not want to comment on the content of the case: “We do not comment on proceedings against third parties. Commerzbank is not itself involved in the proceedings,” said a spokesman.

The investigation into the Cum-Ex scandal has been ongoing for years at various public prosecutors' offices. The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office has brought a total of seven charges in the investigation complex, including the lawsuit that has now been launched, and twelve defendants have already been legally convicted by courts in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. According to its own information, the authority is still investigating ten “extensive procedural complexes” against a total of 39 suspects in relation to Cum-Ex.