Other People's Money
Season 1
“The biggest tax heist in European history.”
Created by: Jan Schomburg
Network: ZDF, DR1
Season aired: 2025-04-13
Overview
The cum-ex scandal has caused 146 billion euros in losses in several countries. Inspired by true events, two women from Germany and Denmark are trying to put an end to it.
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Episodes · 8
Episode 1
In Frankfurt, tax lawyer Dr. Bernd Hausner and the young Sven Lebert set up a fund based on the double refund of capital gains tax: so-called Cum-Ex transactions.
Episode 2
In Germany and Denmark, legislation is being drafted in parallel to prevent cum-ex transactions. However, in both countries, the banking lobby is succeeding in influencing the legislation.
Episode 3
Hausner and Lebert realize that their business partner, Fred Allen, has been cheating on them for years; they can't report him. For the first time, Lebert considers a future without his mentor.
Episode 4
Young tax official Anna Nowak refuses to reimburse Hausner and Lebert's funds worth millions. She informs public prosecutor Lena Birkwald, who takes over the case.
Episode 5
Public Prosecutor Birkwald and her team are slowly becoming aware of the extent of the cum-ex transactions. She is pursuing a plan to conduct simultaneous searches in 16 countries.
Episode 6
The worldwide searches were a complete success for Public Prosecutor Birkwald – much to the displeasure of Hausner and Lebert. Lebert also learned that he had been let down by her.
Episode 7
With Lebert's help, investigative journalists Liholt from Copenhagen and Fromm from Hamburg deceive the Cum-Ex fraudster Akram and get a picture of the shocking extent of the scandal.
Episode 8
Lena Birkwald succeeds in making the extent of tax fraud clear to the Finance Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. But Birkwald also wants to get to grips with the institutions themselves: the banks.
