The investigations at Deutsche Bank are ongoing: more than a hundred employees at the Frankfurt financial institution are now being accused of having evaded taxes on a large scale. In order to secure new indications of possible cum-ex deals, investigators search through masses of emails and letters.
Investigators have continued the raid on illegal cum-ex stock deals at Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. The circle of suspects has expanded to 101 people, the public prosecutor said. The suspicion: serious tax evasion in the context of so-called cum-ex deals.
Around 114 investigators from three federal states are looking for written correspondence, e-mails and evidence not only in the Frankfurt offices of Deutsche Bank, but also in the private homes of ten suspects and at an auditing company. “As has been the case since the investigation began in 2017, the bank continues to cooperate fully with the investigating authority,” said a spokesman for Deutsche Bank.
The cum-ex deals underlying the current raid are about a fraud scheme in which the investors, banks and stock traders involved had the state reimburse them for unpaid capital gains taxes. Experts estimate the damage to taxpayers at around ten billion euros. The banks participated in the business in different roles and earned commissions: they processed transactions, attracted investors and provided them with loans.
In June, bank boss Christian Sewing assumed that Deutsche Bank would not play a major role in the cum-ex litigation.
