Federal Court of Justice upholds lenient sentence for Cum-Ex lawyer Steck
The Federal Court of Justice has upheld the suspended prison sentence against business lawyer Kai-Uwe Steck in the Cum-Ex scandal as final.
Federal Court of Justice upholds lenient sentence for Cum-Ex lawyer Steck
The Federal Court of Justice has upheld the suspended prison sentence against business lawyer Kai-Uwe Steck in Germany's largest tax scandal as final. The senior criminal judges in Karlsruhe rejected the prosecution's appeal without requiring a hearing. This was reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung citing a four-page ruling.
The Bonn criminal court had sentenced Steck in June 2025 to one year and ten months in prison with the sentence suspended on probation. The resulting tax shortfall is approximately half a billion euros. The prosecutors had demanded significantly longer imprisonment in their closing arguments: three years and eight months without probation, as well as a ban from practising his profession.
Steck served for years as a crown witness for the Cologne prosecution authority and assisted in investigating the controversial Cum-Ex dealings. He persuaded other stock traders to cooperate with investigators and served as the principal witness in more than ten trials, including against his former law firm partner Hanno Berger.
The Karlsruhe judges justified their approval of the lenient sentence by reference to the protection of informants in economic crimes. If probation were no longer considered in cases of extensive cooperation, this would undermine the legislative objective and could deter offenders from exposing serious tax crimes in future. The verdict sends a signal to other defendants: cooperation with investigators can pay off even with enormous sums at stake.
Furthermore, the 54-year-old must repay millions from his illegal dealings to the state. Steck admitted in a conversation with the F.A.Z. that he no longer has the assets. Once the sentence becomes final, he will probably need to file for personal bankruptcy, although he has been allowed to keep his licence to practise law.
Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung