Deutsche Bank to Pay US $554M for Tax Fraud

Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay the US government $553.6 million to end an investigation into its alleged sale of fraudulent tax shelters, and avoid any criminal charges. The bank has admitted to taking part “in financial transactions which furthered the fraudulent tax shelters that generated billions of dollars in US tax losses” between 1996 and 2002, a New York district attorney general tells Deutsche-Welle. The bank says it has updated its products since then “to ensure strict adherence to the law.” (More Deutsche Bank stories.)