Overview
- Frankfurt authorities executed 29 searches across Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Berlin, focusing on 19 suspects and arresting a 44-year-old man on a warrant.
- Investigators allege a shell-company network issued fake invoices to legitimize cash flows used for off‑books wages, moving at least €24 million and charging commissions of about 10–15%.
- A separate Kaiserslautern-led action searched more than 80 sites in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, arresting an alleged 50-year-old ringleader and five others over more than €40 million in sham invoices.
- Prosecutors cite suspected tax evasion, withholding and embezzlement of wages, and commercial-scale fraud, with losses to the public purse estimated in the multi‑million euro range.
- In a related crackdown on undeclared work, 130 officers searched 22 locations tied to a cleaning firm in Hesse and Saarland, executed two custody measures, secured assets, and reported suspected cover invoices of €2.6 million and social insurance losses of about €880,000.