Crime: „Knasttourismus“: Hanno Berger, ein korrupter Oberstaatsanwalt und eine Scheinwohnung

In January 2023, Alexander Badle reported to the resident registration office that he had moved to Kurfürstendamm 193 in Berlin. At the time, he was in pre-trial detention in Rhineland-Palatinate, facing charges of bribery. On paper, he shared the apartment with Hanno Berger, the central figure in the Cum-Ex scandal who had just been sentenced to eight years in prison.

The term "Knasttourismus" is used by the German Association of Criminal Investigators to describe the phenomenon of convicts attempting to relocate their residence to a federal state with a more lenient correctional system, primarily Berlin. According to Badle, his lawyer, Christian Abel, who was a partner at PwC Legal in Hamburg at the time, helped him secure a job, an apartment, and the necessary registration forms.

The Landgericht Frankfurt did not believe Badle's story and placed it in the realm of fantasy. In this installment of Handelsblatt Crime, investigative chief Sönke Iwersen and Volker Votsmeier speak with host Solveig Gode about a fallen prosecutor, a lawyer with a gun and citizen army plans, and Cum-Ex mastermind Hanno Berger. They all share a vacant apartment on Kurfürstendamm, which the Federal Criminal Police Office stood in front of in May 2023.

Produced by Florian Pape. Further episodes of Handelsblatt Crime about Hanno Berger and Cum-Ex: • Hanno Berger: Cum-Ex Striptease Artist and State Enemy Number One • The Cum-Ex Mastermind and His Son (Part 1) • The Cum-Ex Master and His Punishment (Episode 1) • Hanno Berger – A Conversation with the Incarcerated Tax Attorney. Handelsblatt Crime's feature on Alexander Badle: Two Convicts, a Fake Apartment, and a PwC Legal Lawyer.

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