Die Kölner Ex-Oberstaatsanwältin Anne Brorhilker über Cum-Ex und Finanzkriminalität

"You hang the small ones, you let the big ones go," says Anne Brorhilker, former senior public prosecutor and cum-ex chief investigator from Cologne, whose investigations played a key role in uncovering the biggest tax fraud in German history. In her new book "Cum/Ex, billions and morals", published together with Traudl Bünger, Brorhilker writes about how, as a lawyer with no prior knowledge of tax law, she became a central figure in the fight against financial crime.

At an evening of the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" at the Comedia on July 3, 2026, Brorhilker will talk about her first suspicions, the arduous investigative work and how she and her team coordinated international searches in 14 countries - with mountains of files that still had to be printed out on paper. Brorhilker will explain how banks and their lawyers reacted to house searches, why financial institutions in particular are often treated especially "carefully" and how she herself ensured more equal treatment. She will also explain how, as co-director of the NGO Bürgerbewegung Finanzwende, she is now fighting to put a stop to the "big players" when it comes to financial crime.

Moderation: Sarah Brasack, deputy editor-in-chief of the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger".