Billionaire Tax Exile Gets Cold Shoulder in His German Hometown (1)

Germany’s Hamburger SV soccer team was coasting toward a 2-0 victory when a banner unfurled inside the arena.

“Kühne Verpiss dich,” it announced in HSV blue, white and black to the crowd of 26,875.

Rough translation: Kuehne Piss Off.

Somewhere far away from Hamburg — at his estate near Lake Zurich in discreet, tax-friendly Switzerland; beneath the crenelated towers of Castell Son Claret, his luxurious hotel in sun-dappled Spain; or perhaps inside one of two VIP cabins aboard his Benetti-built yacht, Chrimi III, in the western Mediterranean — the billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne would have been shaking his head.

All his life, Kuehne has rooted for die Rothosen ...