FRANKFURT, March 31, (APP/AFP) – Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest
lender, said Thursday that its former chief executive Rolf Breuer agreed to pay it 3.2 million euros ($3.6 million) after comments he made in 2002 triggered a long and bitter legal battle.
In an invitation to its annual shareholder meeting on May 19,
Deutsche Bank said that the sum — to be paid personally by Breuer — would be added to a total 90 million euros being paid out to the bank from Breuer’s liability insurance contracts.
Deutsche Bank is seeking shareholder approval for the settlement at
the May 19 AGM.
In a long and bitter legal battle dating back to 2002, media magnate
Leo Kirch, who died in 2011 at the age of 84, had been suing Deutsche Bank for more than 3.0 billion euros.
Kirch claimed that Breuer was responsible for his downfall after he
openly questioned his creditworthiness in a television interview.
In what subsequently turned out to be one of the most expensive
lawsuits for Deutsche Bank, the lender agreed to pay Kirch’s heirs 925 million euros in a settlement reached in 2014.