Extended confiscation of criminal proceeds replacing standard confiscation in criminal revision

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) dismissed the appeals of the defendants as unfounded, upholding the Berlin Regional Court's judgment, but modified the ancillary relief against one defendant by replacing the general confiscation of criminal proceeds with an extended confiscation of 19,730 euros of the value of criminal proceeds, in accordance with the General Federal Prosecutor's application. The case involved a criminal appeal challenging the trial court’s verdict and the specific scope of asset forfeiture regarding proceeds derived from criminal offenses. The decisive legal basis was the provision for extended confiscation of the value of criminal proceeds (erweiterte Einziehung des Wertes von Taterträgen), which the appellate court applied to correct the lower court’s narrower standard, while finding no errors to the defendants' detriment in the remainder of the judgment and assigning the costs of the appeals to the individual complainants.