Deutsche Bank, ICAP and two German lawyers sued over tax bill
Deutsche Bank, TP ICAP and two German lawyers are being sued by M.M.Warburg & Co. in an attempt to recoup a large tax bill it was ordered to pay over controversial Cum-Ex trades.
The lawsuit was filed at a court in Hamberg, Bloomberg reported, where private bank M.M.Warburg is based.
Last week Warburg said it had filed suits against people who initiated, handled and profited from deals that led it to pay an additional 111 million euros to the tax authorities. One of the lawyers apparently being sued, Hanno Berger, told Bloomberg he had not been informed of any action.
A representative for the other lawyer – who has not been named – declined to comment, as did Deutshe Bank.
TP ICAP, a market intermediary, did not comment, but pointed Bloomberg to an early company statement that said that the Cum-Ex trades happened years before it acquired broking business ICAP in 2016.
Cum-Ex deals see investors rapidly trade shares to earn duplicate tax refunds. The practice ended in Germany in 2012, but according to Bloomberg may have cost the taxpayer more than 10 billion euros.
Warburg previously tried to sue Deutsche Bank over Cum-Ex trades, but lost. A Frankfurt tribunal said Warburg might instead be able to force payment from TP ICAP, which sold the shares in the deals at issue. Warburg has appealing the ruling.