Corona help? Man convicted of fraud against millions – In court he provokes with a message on a mask

• With the November aid wanted the federal government to take into account the economic consequences of the Corona– Alleviate the pandemic.
• But the prospect of easy money was also tempting Scammers an.
• A man is now on trial in Munich who, according to investigators, has submitted 91 applications.

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Update from March 17th, 6:30 p.m .: The corona aid fraudster, who unjustifiably submitted 91 applications for subsidies totaling 2.5 million euros, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in Munich. The man with multiple criminal records is to be placed in a rehab facility. Until the judgment is final, he remains in custody because of the risk of escape. The reason given by the public prosecutor was considerable criminal energy and the “brazen” exploitation of the corona pandemic.

The defendant came into the courtroom wearing a mask with the words “no fundamental rights” written on it. During the trial, however, he had covered her with another mask.

Coronavirus aid: Man is said to have applied for subsidies of more than 2.5 million euros

Original report from January 14th:

Munich – Presumably fraudulent Corona*-Help deal today (January 11th) that District Court Munich I. A 31 year old man has been charged, wrongly in at least 91 cases Corona–Emergency aid to have applied for – in several federal states. It’s about cases in Bayern, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Saarland, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hessen and Berlin. The native of Gelsenkirchen, who last worked in London lived, is said to have applied for more than 2.5 million euros with bogus identities, almost 68,000 of which were paid out.

Numerous other processes of this kind are likely to deal with national courts in the future, because the procedure is not an isolated case. “Criminals took advantage of the current emergency in order to enrich themselves financially,” shares the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) With. That has nationwide numbers Federal Ministry of Economics not and refers to the federal states.

Corona aid: In Bavaria alone, 844 investigations into suspected fraud

The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office alone had known more than 1,400 suspected cases by the end of 2020, including 1,120 cases of subsidy fraud Corona*– Immediate help and bridging aid as well as more than 300 cases of other fraud, for example in artist aid.

In Bayern According to the Bavarian Ministry of Justice, the public prosecutor’s offices initiated at least 844 investigative and preliminary investigation proceedings in connection with applications for immediate Corona aid from the federal and state governments. Around 5.5 million euros were paid out. In the case of applications with a total value of at least another 4.5 million euros, according to the ministry, there was also the suspicion of false information without a payout.

In the Public Prosecutor Munich I, which also leads the procedure in the process starting on Monday, around 145 cases of subsidy fraud in connection with corona subsidy aid had been received by the end of October 2020. “The number of procedures is likely to increase,” said a spokeswoman for the authority. “The investigations are still ongoing in many proceedings.”

At the beginning of CoronaIn the crisis, the investigators mainly tracked down the perpetrators when banks reported suspected money laundering due to suspicious transactions. In the meantime, it is mainly the payment offices such as the Bavarian capital, Munich, that report suspected cases.

Corona aid: The bar is now higher

A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Economics stressed that fraud with Corona help is now much more difficult than at the beginning of the pandemic. The bridging aid, which followed the emergency aid from the spring, had to be applied for by a “third party” such as a lawyer, tax advisor or auditor. “The basic application via a so-called“ checking third party ”avoids abuse,” said the spokesman. (dpa) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen Digital editorial network.

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