Two American businessmen have been convicted by the Brussels Court of Appeal for defrauding the Belgian state out of €22.8 million in a major tax fraud case linked to the so-called "Cum-ex" scandal.
The pair were ordered to jointly repay €13.3 million in damages, in addition to a decade's worth of interest payments, according to reports by Belgian financial newspaper L'Echo, based on court documents reviewed by Dutch investigative outlet Follow The Money and De Tijd.
The case revolves around a fraudulent scheme involving fake claims for dividend tax refunds. The two businessmen allegedly set up American pension funds to falsely appear as shareholders in companies listed on the Brussels stock exchange. In reality, the shares had never been purchased.
The duo then claimed the fictitious funds had received dividends from Belgian firms and used forged documents to seek multimillion-euro tax reimbursements from the Belgian authorities under a double taxation treaty between Belgium and the United States.
At the time, the two men owned the German lender North Channel Bank, whose documentation was trusted by the Belgian tax administration.
Both men were handed suspended prison sentences of two years, with the court citing excessive delays in proceedings.
However, the legal battle is far from over. The businessmen intend to challenge the ruling before Belgium's Court of Cassation, while the Belgian state is also expected to appeal, arguing that the damages awarded are too low.
