Sanjay Shah, the founder of hedge-fund Solo Capital Partners LLP, was charged in Germany with money laundering over trades linked to the Cum-Ex tax scandal.
Shah and six others were charged by Hamburg prosecutors, a spokeswoman for the authority said on Monday. She declined to identify the other suspects.
Shah has already been charged by Danish prosecutors in a 9.6 billion-krone ($1.5 billion) tax probe. Described as the “mastermind” of Cum-Ex fraud by the Danish tax authority, he and his associates also face civil lawsuits in the U.K. and Dubai. The first London trial begins next week.
A spokesman for Shah said the charges were “expected,” but “we question the merit as the German court is not competent to decide on Danish tax matters.”
Read more: The Unemployed Trader Who Became a $700 Million Cum-Ex Exile
The new charges are another escalation in what German prosecutors have described as one of the biggest tax heists in European history. Cum-Ex was a trading strategy that used the rapid trade of shares to gain duplicate tax refunds from dividends. The practice, named for the Latin term for “With-Without,” took advantage of tax laws and seemed to allow multiple investors to claim refunds on a dividend that was paid only once.
Germany is looking at as many as 1,000 suspects from across the financial industry, while Denmark has moved more slowly to take criminal action after learning international financiers stole billions from state coffers by falsely claiming refunds on dividend taxes.
A spokesman for the Danish state prosecutor said Monday that it has been working with authorities in other countries, including Germany on the Cum-Ex case. The Copenhagen-based agency said it’s aware of the different investigative tracks, but wouldn’t comment on specific developments. The Danish tax agency declined to comment.
German broadcaster NDR reported the indictment earlier.
— With assistance by Frances Schwartzkopff