- Five individuals convicted by Berlin Regional Court for serious VAT fraud, commercial document forgery, and aiding and abetting tax fraud.
- Criminal activities involved trading luxury cars and medical face masks, causing an estimated damage of €52 million.
- Defendants used a complex network with shell companies in Czechia, Germany, and Poland.
- Defendants exploited economically disadvantaged individuals from Poland and Latvia as straw men.
- Three defendants considered leading members of the criminal organization; sentenced to ten years, eight years and six months, and continuation of pre-trial detention.
- Another defendant, a service provider, sentenced to five years and six months.
- An employee sentenced to two years for aiding and abetting tax fraud.
- Confiscation orders totaling €27.4 million issued against proceeds and six third-party beneficiaries.
- EPPO secured assets worth around €6.5 million, including bank accounts, properties, cryptocurrencies, and luxury items.
- Earlier convictions included a former notary (two years suspended) and the wife of an accused (one year and four months suspended, €10,800 fine, and €50,000 recovery).
- Judgment pronounced within less than a year of indictment filing after nine months of trial.
- EPPO is responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.
Source: eppo.europa.eu
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
