London Bankers’ Cum-Ex Verdict Shows Inexperience Pays Off (1)

In the first landmark trial investigating dividend tax trades in Germany, the two defendants’ gamble to cooperate with authorities paid off because it kept them out of jail. But the junior ex-banker played another card: that he was simply too inexperienced to know that what he did was illegal.

While Martin Shields and Nicholas Diable were convicted of tax evasion for arranging complex stock sales that cheated the government out of revenue, Diable was cleared of half the charges. These covered the first two years under review in the case, which charged the two men with tax evasion amounting to ...