Forfeiture of criminal proceeds: substitution of value-based confiscation for extended forfeiture on revision

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) 5th Criminal Senate dismissed the defendant's appeal as unfounded, upholding the Hamburg Regional Court's July 1, 2022 conviction, but modified the ancillary order to mandate the forfeiture of the value of criminal proceeds amounting to 1,116,993.25 EUR in accordance with the Federal Public Prosecutor's motion, thereby eliminating the extended forfeiture declaration and leaving the remaining judgment intact. The case involved a criminal revision challenging the lower court's sentencing and forfeiture calculations, with the appellate court finding no legal errors detrimental to the defendant in the substantive findings. The decisive legal basis centered on the statutory provisions governing the forfeiture of the value of criminal proceeds (Einziehung des Wertes von Taterträgen), allowing the court to substitute the precise value-based forfeiture for the broader declaratory forfeiture originally ordered by the trial court.