Joint and several liability for asset forfeiture in criminal proceedings

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) dismissed the defendant's revision as unfounded, upholding the Landgericht Lübeck's judgment dated November 16, 2023, with the specific modification that the defendant is liable as a joint debtor for an asset forfeiture amount of €37,365 in accordance with the General Public Prosecutor's request. The case involved a criminal appeal challenging the original conviction and related asset disposal measures, where the appellate court found no legal errors to the defendant's detriment other than the correction to the liability structure of the forfeiture claim. The decisive legal basis centered on the statutory provisions governing criminal asset forfeiture (Einziehung) and the rules for joint and several liability among debtors, resulting in the confirmation of the primary verdict and the imposition of the revised financial obligation on the defendant, who also bore the costs of the legal remedy.