(Bloomberg) -- German authorities raided Deutsche Bank AG’s headquarters as well as the home of former co-chief executive officer, Juergen Fitschen, as part of a vast investigation of the controversial Cum-Ex transactions that’s embroiled some of the world’s most powerful financial firms.

Cologne prosecutors began inspections at the bank’s Frankfurt premises on Tuesday, the lender said, adding that the raid is part of an ongoing investigation pending since 2017, in which the company is fully cooperating. 

A spokeswoman for the Cologne authority separately confirmed that 114 officers are raiding the financial institution and the homes of ten suspects without disclosing any names. Fitschen, who was co-CEO between 2012 and 2016, is among those individuals, according to people familiar with the matter. His defense lawyer declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg on Tuesday.

In its sweeping Cum-Ex probe, Cologne has spent most of the year searching German offices of international banks. Officials raided Barclays Plc’s Frankfurt offices in March days after Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch premises were hit. Morgan Stanley’s offices were searched in May and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in August. A total of 1,500 people are being investigated by Cologne prosecutors.

Cum-Ex transactions took advantage of a now-abandoned method of taxing dividends, which was abused to get multiple refunds through a combination of short sales and other transactions. The practice ended in 2012 when Germany revised its rules, but Cum-Ex may have cost taxpayers more than €10 billion in total, lawmakers estimated. It was named after the Latin terms cum/ex, meaning with/without, because the stocks were sold with and delivered without a dividend payment.

Deutsche Bank has long been caught up in the Cum-Ex scandal. in 2020, it disclosed that five former management board members are under investigation in the tax evasion probe. A year earlier, people familiar with the Cologne probe said that it looked at 80 suspects like to Deutsche Bank, including former co-Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann and former investment banking chief Garth Ritchie. 

The bank’s role as a prime broker financing the controversial deals set up by funds was highlighted in the first German Cum-Ex trial that lead to a conviction of two former London-based traders in 2020.

Deutsche Bank settled a separate Cum-Ex investigation by Frankfurt prosecutors in 2018. The lender agreed to pay €4 million to end that case, which reviewed its role as a custodian bank in the deals.   

Handelsblatt reported the raid earlier on Tuesday.

(Updates with former co-CEO Fitschen’s home being among parties visited starting in first paragraph)

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.