© Reuters.
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A group of U.S. pension plans has lost a bid to block Denmark’s tax agency from pursuing millions of dollars from them in a “cum-ex” tax fraud case after a judge in a New York district court ruled the trial could proceed.
Danish tax agency in 2018 filed civil lawsuits in federal district courts across the United States, accusing more than 100 retirement and pension plans of inflating the size of their Danish stock holdings in order to obtain higher tax refunds.
So-called “cum-ex” schemes, which flourished following the 2008 financial crisis, involved trading shares rapidly around a syndicate of banks, investors and hedge funds to exploit the tax systems of countries such as Denmark, Germany and Belgium.
In a bellwether trial in the New York court to help anticipate the results of future similar cases, the judge rejected arguments brought by seven defendants, meaning the Danish tax authority can proceed with its case.
ED&F Man Capital Markets, a brokerage fined by Britain’s markets regulator in June over the cum-ex tax scandal, provided services to two U.S.-based pension plans in relation to Danish securities and is also a third-party…
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