Concealment, dishonesty & exploitation—but no fraud

• The judgment is a reminder for claimants of how high the bar is for proving fraud, even where a defendant has been dishonest.

In the recent case of Skatteforvaltningen (The Danish Customs and Tax Administration) v Solo Capital Partners LLP and others [2025] EWHC 2364 (Comm), the High Court found that the Danish tax authority could not recover £1.4bn paid out to various hedge fund managers, including British trader Sanjay Shah, for invalid tax refund claims. This case illustrates the importance of rigorous scrutiny of payment approvals and appropriate training and supervision for employees, particularly for public bodies.

The claimant was the Danish Customs and Tax Administration, Skatteforvaltningen (SKAT). The defendants were various funds and traders implicated in a ‘cum-ex’ dividend scheme, a well-publicised alleged tax fraud involving Danish dividend tax refunds between 2012 and 2015. Cum-ex trading involved trading listed shares on or before a dividend declaration date, to then be settled