Just in time for Christmas, Deutsche Bank will be paying $553.3 million to the US government after admitting it was party to a massive tax avoidance scheme:
NEW YORK—Deutsche Bank AG agreed Tuesday to pay $553.6 million and admitted criminal wrongdoing in a long-running probe over tax shelters that prosecutors claim generated billions in false tax losses.
Under a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan and the Internal Revenue Service, the German bank won't be prosecuted for its participation in about 15 tax shelters involving more than 2,100 customers between 1996 and 2002, including shelters marketed by accounting firm KPMG LLP and defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist PC.
"Customers used the transactions to generate more than $29 billion in bogus tax benefits, mainly losses," according to the agreement.
This is certainly welcome news, but when will Deutsche Bank be prosecuted for its role in the US housing meltdown and the bank's illegal foreclosure activiites? Across the US, Deutsche Bank has taken back residential properties from their owners and simply allows the the structures to rot. Finally, a neighborhood group in Cleveland has had enough and is taking action:
A nonprofit neighborhood group and the city of Cleveland have begun a new round in their fight to force one of the world's largest banks to deal with dilapidated properties it owns.
The city and the Cleveland Housing Renewal Project Inc. have filed an amended complaint in U.S. District Court seeking to force Deutsche Bank Trust Co. to demolish or maintain houses it took back after foreclosure.
Cleveland wants Deutsche Bank to reimburse the city about $50,000 for the cost of boarding up the properties, cutting grass and for unpaid water bills.
Cleveland Housing Renewal Project also added nine mortgage-servicing companies as defendants in the lawsuit. The Renewal Project's Frank Ford said Deutsche Bank attorneys have argued that the servicing companies are responsible for maintaining properties while servicers say it's the bank's job.
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