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The case is being heard by a special chamber of the Stuttgart Regional Court
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
EY's auditors and tax advisors have allegedly wrongly advised the Frankfurt-based Bank Maple in the highly controversial cum-ex deals.
Now the insolvency administrator of the Maple Bank has sued the auditing company EY for 195 million euros in damages.
According to a court spokeswoman, the case is being negotiated by a special chamber of the Stuttgart Regional Court.
Initially, the insolvency administrator in the lawsuit from December 2019 put the claim for damages at 95 million euros.
The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" had previously reported on the higher claim for damages.
EY is jointly responsible for the damage because you gave wrong advice as a tax advisor and illegally issued a certificate as an auditor, even though Maple Bank did not set up any provisions for the risky business, argues the bank's insolvency administrator.
Maple Bank collapsed in 2016 because of its involvement in cum-ex deals.
An EY spokesman denied the allegations.
"We emphasize that we have not been involved in shaping cum-ex deals in this case or in any other case."
In cum-ex transactions, banks traded shares before (cum) and after (ex) payment of the stock dividends.
For this purpose, shares with ("cum") and without ("ex") dividend entitlements were shifted back and forth between several participants around the dividend cut-off date.
Tax authorities then reimbursed capital gains taxes that had not been paid.
The state suffered billions in damage.
EY has recently come into the public eye because the company acted as an auditor for the scandal-ridden financial services provider Wirecard.
For many years, EY had certified the payment processor's annual accounts.
In June, the now insolvent payment service provider admitted air bookings of 1.9 billion euros.
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