COMMERCIAL CRIMINAL LAW

Economic criminal law is subject to strong dynamics. It has gained increasing importance recently – particularly due to developments in case law. This is evident, for example, in the case law on breach of trust (§ 266 of the German Criminal Code, the Oppenheim trial in Cologne, or the Middelhoff trial in Essen) as well as in the continuous creation of further prohibitions, such as the legal provisions on the separation of banking activities.

In principle, economic criminal law encompasses all offenses that have a connection to economic life. Besides breach of trust (§ 266 of the German Criminal Code) and fraud (§ 263 of the German Criminal Code), this also includes corruption offenses such as bribery (§§ 299, 334 of the German Criminal Code).

However, even ancillary laws contain criminal provisions that have recently become the subject of increasingly frequent white-collar crime investigations, e.g., delaying insolvency proceedings (§ 84 GmbHG, § 401 AktG), unauthorized exploitation of copyrighted works (§ 106 UrhG), criminal trademark infringement (§ 143 MarkenG), violations of § 34 Außenwirtschaftsgesetz, § 142 PatG, various provisions of the German Medicines Act (AMG), and many more.

Especially in the area of ​​white-collar crime, preventative measures are becoming increasingly important. Developing and monitoring compliance guidelines can prevent many white-collar crimes within a company. The law and tax firm Mainczyk provides active support in implementing compliance systems.

Economic criminal proceedings follow somewhat different rules than "classic" criminal proceedings and therefore place particular demands on the defense. These peculiarities begin with the accused themselves, who in most cases have no prior criminal record. The investigation and the accusation alone can destroy their entire livelihood. Therefore, investigative measures such as house searches or the ordering of pretrial detention have enormous consequences.

Therefore, white-collar crime proceedings depend heavily on the early intervention of an experienced defense attorney. This is because white-collar crime cases involve highly specialized prosecutors and judges from the white-collar crime divisions. This should be addressed.