Hanno Berger is indignant, keeps shaking his head and writing notes to his defense attorney.

Otherwise he looks at the writing pad in front of him, ignoring the statements of judge Roland Zickler.

The fact that the 72-year-old defendant is largely uninterested in the fact that the most serious encroachment that the rule of law can make on his personal freedom is taking place.

"You are the inventor of Cum-ex 2.0 - so don't shake your head again," Zickler addressed the accused directly.

Marcus Young

Editor in Business.

  • Follow I follow

The Bonn Regional Court sentenced the tax attorney to eight years in prison on Tuesday for comprehensive advice on cum-ex transactions by the Hamburg private bank MM Warburg.

Berger was guilty of particularly serious tax evasion in three cases, Zickler explained in the verbal announcement in Bonn.

In addition, the court ordered the confiscation of around 13.6 million euros that Berger earned through the advice.

The judges of the 12th major criminal chamber are convinced that Berger initiated joint stock transactions using short sellers around the dividend date ("cum-ex") and brokered numerous very wealthy investors to banks.

A structure called "Berger model"

Within the Hamburg private bank MM Warburg, the structures set up by Berger and other tax lawyers were even known as the "Berger model" - at the end of which a capital gains tax that had only been incurred once was reclaimed several times by the tax authorities and shared among the beneficiaries of these deals.

"These are massive cases of tax evasion on a scale that is unparalleled in Germany," emphasized Zickler.

Almost 276 million euros arose from the illegal stock transactions in the period from 2007 to 2011.

The tax expert had shown considerable criminal energy, with the transactions being a "particularly serious form of white-collar crime".

The accused's contributions to the crime were of central importance for the success of the crimes.

This ends the first criminal proceedings against Berger after almost eight months.

However, the judgment is not yet final.

Berger can still appeal to the Federal Court of Justice (file number 62 KLs 2/20).

His pivotal role in the multi-billion dollar cum-ex scandal and his fate caught the general public's attention on Tuesday.

The hearing room S 0.11 of the Bonn district court is filled to the last seat when Hanno Berger is led to the dock by judicial officers in the early afternoon.

With a rigid expression, surrounded by his defenders, Berger takes his seat.

One last brief evidence

Before the pronouncement, however, the court had to enter briefly into the hearing of evidence.

Reason: The confiscation of a total of 27.4 million euros requested by the public prosecutor's office has been partially completed.

Berger's long-time law firm partner S., who appears as a key witness for the Cologne public prosecutor's office, pays back his profits from the cum-ex deals to the tax authorities.

Five million euros have already been deposited in an account at the Deutsche Bundesbank, and payment of the remaining amount is still pending clarification of various legal issues with the bank.

This emerges from various documents that are read out in the courtroom.

The Federal Central Tax Office also confirmed receipt of payment.

The representative of the public prosecutor's office then stated that they would agree to refraining from confiscation in S.'s case.

The defense did not disagree.

With a decision, the criminal chamber sealed that in the event of a verdict, only Berger could be prosecuted.

In its verdict, the Criminal Court largely agrees with the statements made by the Cologne Public Prosecutor's Office.

Last week, their representative had demanded nine years in prison for Berger.

His defense attorneys refrained from making a specific claim and appealed to the "goodness of the court".

As a maximum, the accused could face up to 15 years in prison.

The fact that the criminal chamber has now remained under the requests of the public prosecutor's office is due, among other things, to Berger's age, the difficult conditions in custody and the double burden of two criminal proceedings.

Since June, the tax attorney has also had to answer to the Wiesbaden district court for tax evasion.

In recent months he commuted between prisons in Cologne and Frankfurt.

On the other hand, the defendant's testimony in August played no part in the chamber's deliberations.

The accused subsequently showed no remorse and his redundant statements did not contribute to shortening the criminal proceedings.

There Berger said that he had learned about cum-ex transactions in 2005 through an expert opinion – “that’s not possible!” Judge Zickler takes up the sentence in a modified way at the end: “It can’t be true – you would have been better off sticking with it !“