Insolvency criminal law

Economic behaviour of companies and the hope of last-minute restructuring can lead to the unfortunate result that the desired goal cannot be achieved.

In such situations, circumstances affecting the company's performance may create an imbalance which may prevent the company from raising the necessary financial resources to meet its existing liabilities. In legal terms, this imbalance is described with the terms “insolvency” and “over-indebtedness”.

Especially in owner-managed companies, the management tries to make desperate attempts to put the company back in a good financial situation. These attempts often result in situations that are in conflict to the provisions of insolvency law. The insolvency application can trigger criminal investigations by the authorities. In such cases, the investigating authorities put their focus on the management.

Insolvency crimes are usually accompanied by offences such as fraud, withholding and embezzlement of wages and salaries, tax evasion or the violation of accounting obligations.

In addition to the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch - StGB), other criminal offences can be found in particular in the Insolvency Code. Proper advice and/or defence is essential in such situation in order to achieve the best possible result.

We provide services in insolvency criminal law across a range of matters, including:

• Advice and defence in the event of insolvency, bankruptcy, breach of accounting obligations, criminal offences under the German Penal Code (StGB);

• Expert opinions on tax issues.