The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt has filed charges against a woman who is said to have swindled a well-paid job at a private bank with forged diplomas.
The 35-year-old woman is accused of serious fraud and forgery, as public prosecutor Nadja Niesen announced on Friday.
In March 2018, the woman is said to have presented the fakes made using a color copier at an interview.
Accordingly, she had obtained a bachelor's degree with the grade "very good" from the University of Hamburg and also successfully studied law at a Paris university.
According to Niesen, the accused worked for two years for a gross monthly salary of 5,700 euros at the private bank.
In the course of this time, however, doubts about her performance apparently arose, prompting her superiors to investigate.
After the end of the allegedly fraudulent cooperation, the damage caused by the wrongly paid salary amounted to 154,500 euros.
The woman may have to pay this amount back to the bank.
According to Niesen, the 35-year-old has confessed.
It is not yet clear when the trial against her will take place at the Frankfurt district court.
Such cases of fraud among lawyers occur again and again.
It was only this summer that the Berlin public prosecutor's office brought charges against a 43-year-old woman who is said to have embellished her exam grades with the image editing program Photoshop.
The qualified lawyer thus gained access to three major law firms in Berlin.
Reputable law firms cheated
Between 2016 and 2020 she is said to have received more salary due to her supposed qualifications.
The prosecutors estimate the damage to their former employers at up to 165,000 euros.
In the meantime, the Berlin Bar Association had also become active in the case, which caused a stir in the legal profession.
The woman lost her license last year, so she can no longer work as a lawyer.
In November 2020, the Munich district court even sentenced a swindler to two years of imprisonment on probation and ordered the repayment of around 325,000 euros.
The man had broken off his law studies after several semesters, but then worked as a lawyer for several years on the basis of forged exam certificates.