Accessibility
DE / EN

CumEx-Files 2.0: Recalculation of the tax damage caused by Cum-Ex/Cum-Cum

Research team led by Professor Dr. Christoph Spengel reveals: tax damage from cum-ex/cum-cum deals significantly higher than originally thought

Damage caused by fraudulent so-called cum-ex and cum-cum deals is even higher than previously thought. Today, an international research network, coordinated by the investigative organization “Correctiv”, published its findings of its “CumEx-Files 2.0”. These are based on up-to-date estimates of the tax damage caused by the deceptive business practice.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Spengel, holder of the Mannheim Chair of Business Taxation II, has recalculated the loss for twelve countries in the years 2000 to 2020 together with his doctoral students Christopher Ludwig and Daniel Klein. The team assumes a damage of about 150 billion euros – previously the estimates were about 55 billion. In Germany alone, cum-ex, cum-cum and similar transactions had caused a tax loss of at least 35.9 billion euros in the years 2000 to 2020.

Reports on “CumEx-Files 2.0” have appeared in the national daily press (e.g. ZEIT, FAZ, Das Erste) as well as in international media (e.g. BBC). On TV, among others, ARD reported in their program Panorama (from minute 9:16).

Christoph Spengel has been publishing specialist essays on the illegality of Cum-Ex transactions since 2015. In doing so, he helped set the ball rolling for the uncovering and prosecution of the fraudulent billion-dollar transactions. In 2016, he was an expert witness for the 4th Committee of Inquiry (Cum/Ex) of the 18th legislative period of the German Bundestag; in 2018, he was an expert witness for the European Parliament at the public hearing: “Cum Ex scandal: financial crime and the loopholes in the current legal framework”. Since 2019, Professor Spengel has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter.

Back