Former senior prosecutor Alexander Badle registered a Berlin address while in pre-trial detention, sharing it on paper with Hanno Berger, the tax lawyer convicted in the Cum-Ex scandal. A Frankfurt court later concluded that Badle had tried to use the registration to seek the more liberal prison regime in Berlin. The court rejected his claim that lawyer Christian Abel had arranged the move as part of a plan for his rehabilitation.
Badle was arrested in July 2020 on suspicion of accepting bribes. The court found that he had received around €533,000 between 2007 and 2020 through his involvement in a company that arranged expert witnesses for the justice system. After being released in September 2020, he was required to report any change of address. He returned to pre-trial detention in January 2022 after investigators found he was living with his fiancée and had obtained a false certificate for his registered accommodation.
In July 2022, Abel, then an equity partner at PwC Legal in Hamburg, obtained permission to visit Badle without the usual monitoring, citing discussions about a potential legal mandate. Badle later told the Frankfurt court that Abel had offered to represent him in prison matters, promised him a specialist position at PwC in Berlin and arranged an apartment. On January 26, 2023, Badle registered at Kurfürstendamm 193. Berger had registered at the same address the previous month, while in custody.
The court said Badle’s account was not credible. It questioned why a Hamburg insolvency lawyer would travel to a prison in Rhineland-Palatinate without prior arrangements, and noted that Abel never formally appeared as Badle’s defense lawyer in the criminal case. The court also considered a permanent job offer from PwC Legal to an accused person unlikely, and an apartment provided by the firm without compensation implausible.
PwC Legal told the court that Abel had personally represented Badle in a prison-related matter, in part using the firm’s letterhead and address. But it said the job offer had been made by Abel without authorization and was not valid. On November 1, 2023, the court rejected Badle’s request for reduced restrictions on his detention, finding that his false registration was deliberate and intended to exploit differences between state prison systems.
The Berlin address came to investigators’ attention in May 2023 during a search linked to Berger’s assets. The apartment was empty, although a sign displayed both men’s names. Berger was sentenced in December 2022 to eight years in prison for tax evasion involving €276 million. He remains in a prison in Hesse; through his lawyer, he said the contemplated move to Berlin was likely connected to questions about the enforcement of his sentence.
Badle was sentenced to six years in prison in May 2023. He was released on probation in December 2025 after serving two-thirds of his sentence at Rohrbach prison, rather than in Berlin. He did not respond to questions, and Abel also declined to comment. PwC Legal said Abel had left the firm years earlier, although his LinkedIn profile continued to list him there.
Sources: Handelsblatt.