It was a remarkable performance by Christian Olearius in front of the Bonn Regional Court on Monday. It was not so much the content of his half-hour statement that stood out: It was clear long before the trial, especially after his lawyers' four presentations, that the 81-year-old would insist on his innocence. What was more striking was his demeanor: there sat a deeply wounded man, a former banker, patron, and highly respected citizen for decades, who now no longer understands the world. Olearius celebrated his victimhood. In his view, the prosecution was superficial and tendentious, the media was prejudiced and one-sided, his former business partners were obfuscating or lying, and even the judiciary was biased. According to Christian Olearius, the blame for his downfall and lost reputation lies with everyone else but him. The only concession to his own responsibility was admitting to perhaps having been "naive."

Did his court-appointed lawyer, Bernd Schünemann, do Olearius a favor by complementing his remarks in a similarly emotional tone? Schünemann went too far in his speech when he claimed that "only Warburg is always singled out as the scapegoat", and ignored ongoing or completed cases related to other Cum-ex schemes such as Maple Bank, HVB, or Duet.

The representatives of Warburg are right in pointing out that many corners of the Cum-ex scene have not been sufficiently illuminated publicly. This brings us to the political controversy of recent weeks: North Rhine-Westphalia Minister of Justice Benjamin Limbach failed in his attempt to split the Cum-ex unit of the Cologne public prosecutor's office. This move was seen as an attempt to disempower Senior Public Prosecutor Anne Brorhilker, whose persistence in investigating Cum-ex schemes cannot be praised enough. It was once again evident in the sometimes very personal attacks by Olearius' defenders against Brorhilker.

After much criticism, the Green Party minister reversed his original plan last week, opting for a 180-degree turn. The unit remains intact, and there will even be a few more positions. Let's hope that light will be shed on one of the allegedly largest Cum-ex schemes soon: the WestLB case. An explicit investigation into this case is agreed upon in the coalition agreement between the CDU and the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia. It could help restore Limbach's tarnished Cum-ex image.