Anne Brorhilker

It was more than just a personnel matter that became known in April 2024. It was a sensation—and the media response was correspondingly large. Of all people, Anne Brorhilker is quitting to fight against financial crime for an NGO in the future. For years, the now 51-year-old had made a name for herself as Germany's most persistent Cum-Ex investigator as a senior public prosecutor. For years, she had fought against massive resistance to uncover one of the most brazen and largest tax thefts in the history of the Federal Republic and to hold the masterminds accountable. Her investigations led to several convictions, from tax advisors to bankers.

In May, however, Anne Brorhilker will not be a guest as a prosecutor at the OMR Festival and Finance Forward, but as the managing director of the anti-financial lobby organization Finanzwende. The senior public prosecutor had long been struggling with the conditions at the Cologne public prosecutor's office and beyond, with the delays and peculiarities surrounding the clarification of the Cum-Ex cases, in which the Federal Republic of Germany suffered damage in the double-digit billion range due to tax tricks around the dividend record date of shares. In her new role, she is committed to more effectively combating financial crime—and is even foregoing a lot of money to do so. By leaving the civil service, she also loses her claims to retirement benefits from that time. She wants to contribute to ensuring that the judiciary is better equipped to fight financial crime, that the financial lobby is pushed back, and that tax fraud involving millions is not treated more leniently than social fraud.