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Borussia Dortmund bus attacker had hoped to profit from share slump

BERLIN — Police have arrested a 28-year old on suspicion he attacked the bus of German soccer team Borussia Dortmund GmbH last week, hoping to profit from a slump in the publicly traded club’s share price.

Police officers stand in front of Dortmund's damaged team bus after an explosion before the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and AS Monaco in Dortmund, western Germany, Tuesday, April 11, 2017.  Photo: AP

Police officers stand in front of Dortmund's damaged team bus after an explosion before the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and AS Monaco in Dortmund, western Germany, Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Photo: AP

BERLIN — Police have arrested a 28-year old on suspicion he attacked the bus of German soccer team Borussia Dortmund GmbH last week, hoping to profit from a slump in the publicly traded club’s share price.

The man, who has both German and Russian citizenship, was apprehended in the southern city of Tuebingen earlier Friday (April 21), the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. On the day of the April 11 attack in the German team’s home city of Dortmund, he bought 15,000 put options on Borussia Dortmund shares betting they would drop sharply after the attack.

A player was injured following three bomb explosions near the team’s bus as it headed to a Champions League match against AS Monaco. Spaniard Marc Bartra, who plays for Borussia Dortmund, was hospitalised as a result of the injuries sustained in the blasts.

The suspect, identified only as Sergej W, had booked a room in the same hotel as the soccer team. He bought put options online via the IP address of the hotel, the prosecutor’s office said. Put options grant its owner the right to sell shares at a fixed price in the future. The man had taken a consumer loan to finance the transaction, according to the statement. BLOOMBERG

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