TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
Corporate News
TILP Press Release: Billion euro lawsuit against Deutsche Bank AG based on
alleged fraud
DGAP-Media / 22.01.2019 / 06:30
Press Release
11 billion euro lawsuit before the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court against
Deutsche Bank AG and Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers AG for fraud -
criminal charges brought against Deutsche Bank AG and Hauck & Aufhäuser
Privatbankiers AG to the Stuttgart state prosecutor.
Frankfurt am Main/Kirchentellinsfurt, January 22, 2019
TILP Litigation Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH (TILP Litigation) has filed a
lawsuit before the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court on behalf of
Stuttgart-based businessman Hafez Sabet against Deutsche Bank AG and Hauck &
Aufhäuser Privatbankiers AG as joint and several debtors for more than 11
billion euros. The complaint with docket number 2-05 O 440/18 has been
effectively served on the defendants. The plaintiff accuses the two banks of
having manipulated a property transaction in 2013 and having colluded to his
detriment by means of intentional immoral acts. This would have allegedly
enabled Deutsche Bank AG to commit fraud in a prior lawsuit that had been
brought against Deutsche Bank AG by Hafez Sabet in Stuttgart and therefore
led to damages that are now brought by Mr. Sabet before the Frankfurt
Regional Court.
Background: The initial court proceedings in Stuttgart
In 2009 Mr. Sabet filed a claim for damages in Stuttgart against Deutsche
Bank AG (Deutsche Bank) in connection with the insolvency proceedings opened
in 2004 concerning the assets of the company M. Sabet & Sons (Sabet
company), which was at that time the world's largest dealer of oriental
carpets and operated an engine development institute. The main issue in the
lawsuit was the question of whether Deutsche Bank was overcollateralized
with Sabet company assets and thus unlawfully brought about insolvency. The
lawsuit with a claim amount of around 5.9 billion euros plus statutory
default interest was lost in 2015. About 5.6 billion euros of the Stuttgart
claim were, according to an expert's report documenting damages, caused by
the shutdown of the "Sabet-Motor" engine institute. "This engine, whose
success has been proven both in the testing of the institute and in expert
reports, was already well-developed at the time of the Sabet company
insolvency, which has affected all Sabet family assets, thus preventing the
completion of the engine development," explains lawyer Andreas W. Tilp,
managing director of the TILP Litigation the billion euro damages. Tilp has
previously represented Mr. Sabet in the initial proceedings in Stuttgart.
For the first time, in 2018, Mr. Sabet received documents which provide
evidence of the allegations of fraud, and as a result, represented by the
renowned Cologne criminal law firm Gercke Wollschläger, brought criminal
charges in May of 2018, inter alia against those responsible from Deutsche
Bank AG as well as the Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers AG (Hauck &
Aufhäuser), which are being processed by the state prosecutor's office
Stuttgart under docket number 145 Js 50442/18. "In our legal opinion,
Deutsche Bank only won the then ongoing Stuttgart lawsuit because it
committed fraud there, made possible by Hauck & Aufhäuser," says Tilp. "We
are confident that we will be able to prove that this fraud was committed
before the court, based on the documents that we received in 2018,"
continues Tilp.
The alleged fraud before the court in Stuttgart
Mr. Sabet substantiates his allegation of fraud before the court with the
fact that Deutsche Bank as defendant in the initial Stuttgart lawsuit
claimed, against its better knowledge, a low collateral value on two Sabet
properties located in Stuttgart Pragsattel (Maybachstraße and
Rheinstahlstraße). The value of these plots, however, played a key role in
the legal proceedings with regard to the controversial question of
overcollateralization. "According to our analysis, there was a clear
overcollateralization and Deutsche Bank would have had to release
collaterals to Sabet company by the year 2002 at the latest, therefore
avoiding its bankruptcy", explains lawyer Tilp. "Instead of releasing
collaterals, however, Deutsche Bank terminated the loans for its
decades-long client M. Sabet & Sons and filed for bankruptcy."
The Sabet properties on the Pragsattel were to be acquired by TD Trump
Deutschland AG in 2001, with the intention of building the "Trump Tower".
According to the complaint the final sale failed because Deutsche Bank
refused to release the land charge registered in its favor. "In our legal
opinion, this refusal was unlawful and led to the bankruptcy of the Sabet
company, which is why we have sued on behalf of Mr. Sabet before the
Stuttgart Regional and the Higher Regional Court for damages for breach of
contract and intentional immoral injury," says Tilp.
For the Higher Regional Court Stuttgart, the important issue in terms of the
overcollateralization was the valuation of the Sabet properties on
Pragsattel, which were sold as part of the bankruptcy estate during the
Stuttgart proceedings. "In 2013 Deutsche Bank hence had a fundamental
interest in the fact that these Sabet properties would be sold out of the
bankruptcy estate for a value far lower than its actual value," says Tilp.
In August of 2013 the sale of the Pragsattel properties to the project
companies Maybach 1-4 GmbH & Co. KG (Maybach 1-4) took place at a price of
6.7 million euros. In its judgement (docket number 9 U 157/13) against Mr.
Sabet in May of 2014, the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court stated that this
sale price proved a low collateral value of the Pragsattel properties in the
bankruptcy as a whole and denied an overcollateralisation of Deutsche Bank.
In just five weeks after the final acquisition of ownership, the properties
were resold by Maybach 1-4 for a minimum purchase price of 16 million euros.
"It is our legal conviction that the Pragsattel plots were sold far below
their value and therefore dumped in order to fight off the Stuttgart lawsuit
of our client Hafez Sabet and damaging the insolvency assets. This
dissipation happened, according to our recent findings, with knowledge and
intent of the insolvency administrator Steffen Beck, today managing director
of Pluta Rechtsanwalts GmbH, as well as of Hauck & Aufhäuser and Deutsche
Bank", states Tilp. "According to the documents which we have recently
received, Hauck & Aufhäuser had connected with the purchaser Maybach 1-4 by
means of a trustee structure for their mutual benefit and also secured the
real estate purchase," continues Tilp.
Summary
The summary of attorney Tilp is as follows: "Deutsche Bank has, according to
our legal opinion, criminally colluded with Hauck & Aufhäuser by
manipulating the real estate purchase prices to be lowered, and conducted
itself deceitfully in the initial court proceedings before the Stuttgart
Higher Regional Court, thereby winning those proceedings. We are confident
that this alleged fraud will now be found by the Frankfurt Regional Court."
Contact
TILP Litigation Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
Andreas W. Tilp | Rechtsanwalt
Einhornstraße 21
D-72138 Kirchentellinsfurt
Telefon: + 49-7121-90909-0
Telefax: +49-7121-90909-81
E-Mail: [1]medien@tilp.de
[2]www.tilp.de
1. mailto:medien@tilp.de
2. http://mailings.tilp.de/c/18006683/24de96373c4-o5komp
TILP Litigation Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH (TILP LITIGATION) is a sister
law firm of TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH (TILP) and specializes in
litigation, primarily for institutional investors in the field of capital
markets law. TILP LITIGATION represents lead plaintiffs in billion euro
investor lawsuits under the German Capital Markets Model Case Act, such as
currently in the matter of the Porsche/Volkswagen takeover attempt of 2008
before the Higher Regional Court of Celle and aggrieved investors in the
matter of "Dieselgate" before the Higher Regional Court of Brunswick.
End of Media Release
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Issuer: TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
22.01.2019 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by DGAP - a service
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