LexBerg was instructed in 2023 to act for the former Chief Risk Officer of a major Frankfurt-based private bank, who had been dismissed without notice following an internal investigation into alleged misconduct relating to the bank's AML compliance framework. The bank alleged that the client had knowingly approved a series of transactions in breach of the Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz) and had failed to escalate material concerns identified by the compliance team. The dismissal without notice, if upheld, would have forfeited all contractual entitlements — twelve months' notice salary, share-based incentives, and continuation of benefits — representing a total financial exposure of approximately €940,000.

Beyond the financial stakes, the client's career in the regulated financial sector depended on the outcome. The bank had made a notification to BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) in connection with the dismissal, which threatened the client's fitness and propriety standing — without which he would be unable to hold a senior role at any regulated institution in Germany or the EU. LexBerg was instructed to contest the dismissal, protect the BaFin record, and achieve the best possible outcome before the three-week statutory deadline for filing a protection against dismissal claim.

An immediate forensic review of the internal investigation process, the evidence relied upon, and the timeline of events revealed multiple procedural and substantive flaws in the bank's case — including evidence that directly contradicted the dismissal rationale. The most striking finding was that the client had, in fact, escalated every flagged transaction to the Management Board and had received written sign-off in each case.

LexBerg pursued a dual track: contesting the legal and factual basis for the dismissal while simultaneously managing the BaFin notification through a corrective representation that protected the client's regulatory standing throughout.

• The internal investigation was shown to have been conducted by external counsel with a pre-existing advisory relationship with the supervisory board — a conflict of interest not disclosed to the works council during the dismissal consultation process, rendering the process procedurally defective.
• Transaction records and internal communications established that the client had escalated and received written Management Board approval for each flagged transaction — approvals the bank's notice of dismissal failed to mention.
• A corrective representation was filed with BaFin on the client's behalf, challenging the bank's notification as premature and factually inaccurate, and preserving the client's fitness and propriety status pending resolution.
• Three rounds of mediated negotiation produced a comprehensive settlement covering 100% of contractual entitlements, accelerated share vesting, a neutral reference, and an agreed joint BaFin statement.

The matter was resolved in full without proceeding to the Labour Court. The settlement secured all twelve months of notice salary, full accelerated vesting of share awards, a carefully negotiated neutral employment reference, and a corrected BaFin notification that preserved the client's regulatory record intact. Within six months of resolution, the client was appointed to a comparable senior risk role at a separate institution. LexBerg provided regulatory employment advice throughout the transition, ensuring that the circumstances of the previous dismissal were properly contextualised for the new employer's fit and proper assessment.