It has been called “the robbery of the century”. Martin Shields and Nicholas Diable, two British investment bankers, are on trial in Germany for helping structure a massive tax evasion scheme, known as cum-ex trading, that has siphoned up to €55 billion (about US$60 billion or A$90 billion) from European public funds. Let’s put that in perspective. The world’s most successful diamond thieves, the “Pink Panther” group, are suspected of heisting jewels worth €334 million (about A$544 million). The largest bank job in history, a “cash withdrawal” from the Central Bank of Iraq by Saddam Hussein, is estimated to have ... (full story)