Karin Matussek

Markus Braun insisted he acted properly when he told markets two months before the company's spectacular demise that a KPMG probe found no wrongdoing — even though the auditor didn't have access to the documents it needed.

In his first public comments about his involvement in an episode that wiped out billions of euros in shareholder value, Braun spoke of a "day of shock and pain."

Cum-Ex siphoned off billions by taking advantage of tax laws that seemed to allow multiple investors to claim refunds of a tax on dividends that was paid only once.

The controversial Cum-Ex scandal has swept up Wall Street's biggest banks.

Hanno Berger, a German lawyer dubbed the "mastermind" of Cum-Ex, was sentenced for his role in part of a sprawling tax scandal that's robbed billions of euros from government coffers.

Piles of relevant documents were disclosed to the defense only four weeks before the trial started.

Markus Braun's payment company collapsed under the weight of fraud allegations, wiping out billions in shareholder value.

Hanno Berger, a key figure in the sprawling Cum-Ex tax scandal, should get nine years in prison, prosecutors said in closing arguments at a German criminal trial.

The scandal has increasingly ensnared Wall Street's biggest banks.

Ex-Maple Bank CEO Wolfgang Schuck was sentenced to four years and four months by the Frankfurt Regional Court, which also convicted three colleagues.