The penal provision of fraud is a core component of the criminal code and also plays a central role in other areas within the commercial criminal law. One is liable to prosecution due to fraud, when one deceives someone successfully and thus reaches behaviour of a deceived victim, which will lead to a financial losses as well as identical financial advantaged of the offender or a third party.
The fraud offense is thus formulated very abstract and openly. Due to the complexity of today’s economic structures and transactions as well as the emergence of new business models, new problem areas constantly arise within this wide legal framework. Between former business partners it can be observed that in order to support civil claims augmented criminal accusations are raised, if the business relationship or a financial investment did not develop as anticipated.
A central accusation within fraud is deception. Within the context of economic activities, this level can already lead to difficult fact- and legal questions. The legal distinction of the responsibility- and risk sphere of involved parties can turn out to be highly problematic, since these spheres also constitute and outline the penal obligation of enlightenment and information. The concrete content of these obligations is significant for the question, whether the possibly of omitted or incomplete information can even show deception qualities.
Complex legal questions arise regularly concerning the fraud attribute of the damage. The terminology of financial losses has already been, in the area of commercial criminal law and legal knowledge, differentiated in such a way, that the existence and the amount of the damage can hardly be grasped with general understanding. The reason for this is in particular based on the fact that the legally relevant amount of the damage does not necessarily have to be identical to the occurred financial loss. Instead the determination of the damage amount can depend on timely up streamed events, which – in hindsight – regularly lead to difficult assessment issues.
The defence against fraud claims due to reasons of commercial activities thus demands excellent legal knowledge and also extensive practical experiences, in order to identify legal and relevant issues timely and counter fight raised accusations effectively. As specialist attorneys for criminal law with long-standing experience in this legal field ECKSTEIN & KOLLEGEN can therefore guarantee the best possible defence.