Ex-Freshfields Lawyer Loses Appeal Against His Cum-Ex Conviction

A former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner must serve a three-and-a-half-year jail term after losing his appeal against a conviction for helping top investment banks navigate the Cum-Ex trading strategy behind Europe’s biggest tax scandal.

Ulf Johannemann, once the law firm’s head of global tax, had been found guilty last year by a Frankfurt Court for advising Maple Bank GmbH in Cum-Ex deals that cost Germany a tax loss of €374 million ($442 million). The Federal Court of Justice, German’s highest criminal tribunal, published its ruling in the appeal on its website on Tuesday.

A lawyer for Johannemann didn’t immediately ...