The crime of concealment of assets takes place when a debtor intentionally, and in order not to pay his creditors, deducts all or part of his assets.
What does asset raising mean?
The crime of concealment of assets occurs when a debtor tries to delay or prevent his creditors from collecting.
Where does this crime come from?
The crime of Elevation of Assets is defined in articles 257 and 258 of the Penal Code.
What are the requirements for the crime of concealment of assets to take place?
The necessary requirements are the following:
- That the perpetrator of the crime has the legal position of debtor.
- That said position arises from the existence of a credit right by a third party.
- That, in order to avoid responding with his assets for the debt, the cause of the infraction voluntarily hides his assets or part of it to prevent his creditor or creditors from collecting the debt.
For the crime of concealment of assets to occur, it is not necessary to cause patrimonial damage, only that maneuvers are carried out to avoid payment of the debt through a state of insolvency, or to hinder or delay it.
Who can incur in a crime of this type?
The crime can be committed by both natural persons and legal entities.
What penalties does the crime of uprising have?
- Physical persons
In the case of natural persons, article 257 of the Criminal Code punishes anyone who commits this crime with sentences of 1 to 4 years and a fine of 12 to 24 months.
- Legal persons
In the case of legal persons, according to article 258 of the Penal Code, and in accordance with the regulations contained in article 31 of the Penal Code regarding the criminal liability of legal persons, the following penalties are predicted:
- Fine of two to five years, if the crime committed by the individual has a prison sentence of more than five years.
- A fine of one to three years, if the crime committed by the individual has a prison sentence of more than two years not included in the previous paragraph.
- Fine of six months to two years, in the rest of the cases.
Types of asset lifting
We want to emphasize that, although there is a basic type of the crime of uprising, the Penal Code also includes a series of aggravated or special conducts.
aggravated types
Article 257.3 punishes in an aggravated manner when the debt is of public law and the creditor is a public legal entity, or a crime against the Public Treasury or Social Security is involved.
Article 257.4 contemplates that the penalties will be imposed in their upper half, in the following cases:
1.- That the value of the fraud is greater than €50,000.
2.- The existing personal relationships between the victim and the fraudster are abused, or the latter takes advantage of their business or professional credibility.
Special type of the crime of uprising
Article 258 of the Criminal Code presents a special type of asset seizure in relation to judicial or administrative enforcement procedures.
The Penal Code punishes with a prison sentence of 3 months to 1 year, or a fine of 6 to 18 months, whoever is hindering, delaying or complicating the reimbursement to the creditor.
When does a crime of concealment of assets prescribe?
The statute of limitations for the crime is 5 years for the basic and specific types, and 10 years for the aggravated type, given that the prison sentence for the latter case exceeds 5 years (between 1 and 6 years).
If you are the victim of a crime of uprising, call us.
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