[1] A network of banks, stock traders, and lawyers had obtained billions from European treasuries through suspected fraud and speculation involving dividend taxes.

Authorities have since deemed the reclaims illegitimate, but at the time of the trades, this was less black and white, and a vast network of traders, analysts and lawyers were thought to be involved in the practice throughout the continent.

[7][8][9] In January 2024 Ulf Johannemann was found guilty of aiding and abetting a multiyear dividend tax fraud and sentenced to three years and six months in jail in a landmark ruling by a Frankfurt court.

In May 2020, the European Banking Authority announced a 10-point action plan to enhance the future regulatory framework surrounding dividend arbitrage trading schemes.

[14] A parliamentary information mission on tax evasion[15] of the National Assembly has also published a report on the results of the fight against cross-border malicious financial engineering.