Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has sought to draw a line under an uncomfortable chapter for the firm with a €10m payment to German authorities in connection with the cum-ex tax controversy.
The matter centres on what had been cited as the biggest tax fraud in Germany’s history, underpinning the resignation and subsequent jailing in 2019 of Freshfields’ global head of tax, Frankfurt-based Ulf Johannemann. He faces charges of fraud in connection with his advice to the defunct German arm of Maple Bank over the legality of a scheme to reclaim more than €380m in tax that was never paid.
