German financier jailed for multi-billion dollar fraud

The disgraced German property tycoon, Juergen Schneider, has been sentenced by a court in Frankfurt am Main to more than six years in jail for frauds that netted him billions of dollars.

The judge said Schneider could spend Christmas at home before starting his sentence.

The judge said German banks had made things easy for Mr Schneider, overlooking irregularities in his loan applications in expectation of large profits.

Juergen Schneider's property dealings collapsed in 1994 leaving huge debts.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service