In the third criminal trial surrounding the Cum-Ex tax scandal at the Bonn Regional Court, a former banker at the private bank MM Warburg was sentenced to three years and six months in prison.
Due to the length of the proceedings, two months are already considered to have been enforced.
Judge Roland Zickler on Wednesday found the former risk analyst at MM Warburg guilty of two counts of tax evasion.
The public prosecutor had demanded a prison sentence of seven years for the 63-year-old.
His defense advocated a suspended sentence.
The cum-ex transactions in which the accused was involved led to tax damage of around 150 million euros between 2009 and 2010, the public prosecutor had justified their claim.
The defense, on the other hand, had emphasized that the ex-banker himself had not earned a single euro through the transactions and had testified comprehensively in the process.
The convict had described the business as the "biggest mistake of my professional life".
The German state suffered billions in damage from the cum-ex deals.
Investors had the capital gains tax paid once on stock dividends reimbursed several times with the help of banks.
To do this, they shifted shares with - i.e. cum - and without - ex - dividend entitlement around the deadline for the dividend payment.
The cases had spread widely, which is why there are always searches at banks and law firms.
In March 2020, in Germany's first major criminal case, the court in Bonn imposed suspended sentences on two British stock traders.
Last June, the Bonn Regional Court then sentenced a former employee of the private bank MM Warburg to imprisonment in connection with cum-ex transactions.