Overview
- The case opened at the Berlin regional court on 27 February with three men aged 39, 41 and 58 and a 40-year-old woman in the dock.
- The men are accused of tax evasion, aiding or abetting, and document falsification, while the woman is charged with money laundering.
- Investigators estimate VAT losses in the double-digit millions of euros from trades involving luxury vehicles and medical masks.
- The European Public Prosecutor’s Office took over the case in 2021 and led cross-border probes in Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany and Poland that froze accounts and seized assets worth about €5.2 million.
- A related trial in June 2024 produced convictions and a damage figure of roughly €50 million, and the new proceeding is scheduled for 38 hearing days through late October 2026.