Exiled Trader Accused of Fraud Says Denmark Offered Four Years in a ‘Nice Cell’

Shah says a bid to settle criminal probe was rejected in 2018
Ex-Rabobank trader is subject of lawsuits in U.K., Dubai

Watch: Sanjay Shah tells his story being an unemployed trader who set up his own fund targeting gaps in the dividend tax laws around the world and went on to amass a fortune of as much as $700 million in a property portfolio that stretches from Regent’s Park to Dubai. (Source: Bloomberg)

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By Donal Griffin, Ellen Milligan, Frances Schwartzkopff, and Karin Matussek

October 7, 2020 at 5:21 AM UTC

Updated on

October 7, 2020 at 6:50 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Sanjay Shah, a former trader and hedge-fund manager accused by Denmark of orchestrating a $2 billion dividend-tax fraud, said he rejected a plea bargain with the Nordic country that would have meant four years in “a really nice cell.”

Shah, 50, said he attempted to settle a Danish criminal investigation into his trading operations in 2018 by offering a payment of 250 million euros ($293.3 million) to the country’s prosecutors. The confidential settlement would have encompassed a parallel civil case, and he said he wouldn’t have admitted any liability. But, according to Shah, authorities had other ideas.