From Obscure Trader to Multi millionaire: Story of Sanjay Shah

The intriguing tale of Sanjay Shah

Wednesday, 7th October 2020

Like the thousands of mid-level traders who lost their work overnight, Sanjay Shah too found himself stranded in dire straits during the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

However, Shah did not take long to bounce back setting up his own fund targeting gaps in dividend-tax laws and within just a few years his cumulative worth rose from anonymity to a $700 million portfolio that encompassed property from London’s Regent’s Park to Dubai.

Shah is also known to have owned a 2-foot yacht and booked Drake, Elton John and Jennifer Lopez to play for an autism charity he’d founded. So What catapulted him from obscurity to multi-millionaire?

Shah maintains that his climb was through completely legal, albeit controversial, means- Cum-Ex Trades. Such transactions are renowned to make the most of legal ambiguities across the whole of Europe. Traders, as a consequence end up making huge profits out of dividend tax refunds on a single stock holding.

So, other than the governments, who have had to shell out billions, the deals, termed the greatest tax heist in history by German lawmakers, proved extremely gainful for those involved.

The Danish government has called the entire enterprise a charade and Shah is now fighting a legal battle to release much of his fortune that has been frozen along with several criminal accusations against him in various countries, so much so that he is at risk of getting arrested if he leaves the Gulf for Europe.

The 50-year old however continues to be remorseless although his firm Solo Capital Partners LLP is at the centre of Denmark’s Cum-Ex scandal, all the while maintaining that his company only aided investors to make a quick sale of their shares and make easy profits through refunds on dividend taxes.

Shah says he is being made a “scapegoat” and challenges authorities to “prove” and fraud or law infringement.

Shah’s deeds in Denmark has sparked public outrage as the country staggers through the coronavirus inflicted economic slump. Germany too has taken drastic steps charging more than 20 people for tax evasion.

Source: Times of India