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Vermögensarrest: why the account is blocked and which routes exist

Author
Rechtsanwältin Virginia Elisabeth von Burgsdorff
Published
Last updated
Topics
Business
10 minute read
10 minute read

A Vermögensarrest (an order securing assets so that a later confiscation can be enforced) is not a penalty but a securing measure. Where the assumption is well founded that the requirements for the confiscation of the value of what was obtained are met, a Vermögensarrest over the movable and immovable assets of the person concerned may be ordered in order to secure enforcement; where there are strong grounds for that assumption, it is to be ordered (§ 111e Abs. 1 Satz 1 und 2 StPO). The order must at the same time fix a sum of money by depositing which the person concerned can avert enforcement of the order and demand that it be lifted (§ 111e Abs. 4 Satz 2 StPO); against the order itself a Beschwerde (an appeal to the higher court) is available (§ 304 Abs. 1 StPO). How long it takes until a block is lifted again cannot be predicted.

01

Who orders the Vermögensarrest and how quickly that happens

A Beschlagnahme (formal seizure) and a Vermögensarrest are ordered by the court; where there is danger in delay, the order may also be made by the Staatsanwaltschaft (the public prosecution office) (§ 111j Abs. 1 Satz 1 und 2 StPO). Where the Staatsanwaltschaft has made the order, it applies within one week for judicial confirmation; that does not apply to the seizure of a movable item (§ 111j Abs. 2 Satz 1 und 2 StPO). In all cases the person concerned may apply for a decision of the court (§ 111j Abs. 2 Satz 3 StPO). Enforcement is carried out by the Staatsanwaltschaft (§ 111k Abs. 1 Satz 1 StPO); against measures of enforcement the person concerned may apply for a decision of the competent court (§ 111k Abs. 3 StPO).

The block can therefore take effect before the person concerned has been heard: it is meant to prevent assets from being moved out of reach. For businesses and self employed people this means that wages and suppliers' invoices go unpaid before it is settled whether the allegation holds. That is why Akteneinsicht (inspection of the case file) is the first step (§ 147 Abs. 1 StPO).

02

Arrest, Beschlagnahme and confiscation: three different things

The Vermögensarrest secures a sum of money; the order must identify the claim to be secured and state that sum (§ 111e Abs. 4 Satz 1 StPO). It can also secure a fine and the expected costs of the proceedings, but only once a judgment has been given or a Strafbefehl (a written court order imposing a penalty without a main hearing) has been issued (§ 111e Abs. 2 StPO). No arrest is made to secure the costs of enforcement (§ 111e Abs. 3 StPO).

The Beschlagnahme concerns a particular object. Where the assumption is well founded that the requirements for the confiscation of an object or for rendering it unusable are met, it may be seized in order to secure enforcement (§ 111b Abs. 1 Satz 1 StPO). That is how a vehicle disappears from the driveway where it comes into consideration as a product or an instrument of the offence within the meaning of § 74 Abs. 1 StGB; that confiscation presupposes that the objects belong to or are due to the offender or participant at the time of the decision (§ 74 Abs. 3 Satz 1 StGB).

Confiscation is the final decision. Arrest and Beschlagnahme only secure that it can still be enforced later.

03

What is confiscated in the end

Where the offender or participant has obtained something through or for an unlawful act, the court orders its confiscation (§ 73 Abs. 1 StGB); the same applies to benefits derived from it (§ 73 Abs. 2 StGB) and to objects acquired by disposing of what was obtained or as a substitute for it (§ 73 Abs. 3 StGB). Where confiscation of the object is not possible, the court orders the confiscation of a sum of money corresponding to the value of what was obtained (§ 73c Satz 1 StGB). It is precisely that sum which the arrest secures. Alongside this stands extended confiscation: it covers objects of the offender or participant even where these were obtained through or for other unlawful acts (§ 73a Abs. 1 StGB).

04

Why what was obtained and not the profit is what governs

This is the point at which anyone estimating the sum themselves most easily miscalculates. When the value of what was obtained is determined, expenses are indeed to be deducted (§ 73d Abs. 1 Satz 1 StGB). Left out of account, however, is what was spent or deployed for the commission of the offence or for its preparation, in so far as it was not performance in fulfilment of an obligation towards the injured person (§ 73d Abs. 1 Satz 2 StGB). Extent and value may be estimated (§ 73d Abs. 2 StGB). Anyone who assumes that only the surplus is skimmed off underestimates the order of magnitude.

05

Where it is not your proceedings: an arrest against third parties

The order can be directed against a person who is neither the offender nor a participant: where that person has obtained something through the offence and the offender or participant acted for them (§ 73b Abs. 1 Satz 1 Nr. 1 StGB), where what was obtained was transferred to them gratuitously or without legal ground, or they recognised or should have recognised that it came from an unlawful act (number 2), or where it passed to them as an heir, as a person entitled to a compulsory share or as a legatee (number 3).

The practically most important case under number 1 is the company for which a person was acting. A GmbH against which no investigation is itself running can therefore receive an arrest over its assets; so can family members to whom assets were transferred.

For this group a limit of its own applies: confiscation is excluded in so far as the value of what was obtained is no longer present in the assets of the person concerned at the time of the order, unless the material circumstances were known to them when the enrichment ceased to exist, or were unknown to them as a result of gross negligence (§ 73e Abs. 2 StGB). Anyone affected as a third party should set out the origin and whereabouts of the assets early and with supporting documents.

06

Which routes exist

Four starting points are to be distinguished.

  • Deposit. Where the person concerned deposits the sum of money fixed under § 111e Abs. 4 StPO, the enforcement measure is lifted (§ 111g Abs. 1 StPO).
  • Beschwerde. It is admissible against all orders made at first instance in so far as the statute does not expressly exclude them from challenge (§ 304 Abs. 1 StPO). Against measures of enforcement the route runs through § 111k Abs. 3 StPO.
  • Funds for the defence and for maintenance. Where the arrest was ordered because of a fine or the expected costs of the proceedings, an enforcement measure is to be lifted on the application of the Beschuldigter, the person against whom the investigation is being conducted, in so far as they need the pledged object to raise the costs of their defence or the maintenance of their family (§ 111g Abs. 2 StPO).
  • Claims of injured people. Confiscation is excluded in so far as the injured person's claim to the return of what was obtained or to compensation for its value has been extinguished; that does not apply to claims extinguished by limitation (§ 73e Abs. 1 StGB). At the enforcement stage, § 459g Abs. 4 StPO corresponds to this: the exclusion of enforcement is ordered by the court. Likewise, enforcement of the confiscation of value does not take place where the court so orders, in so far as it would be disproportionate (§ 459g Abs. 5 Satz 1 StPO). Both therefore presuppose a decision of the court and do not take effect on their own.

Whether one of these routes holds depends on the content of the order and on the state of the investigation.

07

What enforcement does in practice

An arrest over a movable item, over a claim or over another property right is enforced by attachment (§ 111f Abs. 1 Satz 1 StPO), and in the case of land by entering a securing mortgage (§ 111f Abs. 2 Satz 1 StPO). An account is a claim against the bank; the attachment explains the block.

Enforcement has the effect of a prohibition on disposal within the meaning of § 136 BGB (§ 111h Abs. 1 Satz 1 StPO). Enforcement measures by other creditors against secured objects are not admissible while enforcement lasts (§ 111h Abs. 2 Satz 1 StPO); other creditors therefore can no longer reach these assets either.

08

Even without a conviction

Where no particular person can be prosecuted or convicted for the offence, the court orders confiscation independently where the requirements are otherwise met (§ 76a Abs. 1 Satz 1 StGB). On the conditions named there it is admissible even where prosecution of the offence is time barred (§ 76a Abs. 2 Satz 1 StGB); procedurally this runs through an application by the Staatsanwaltschaft (§ 435 Abs. 1 Satz 1 StPO). Extended and independent confiscation become time barred only after 30 years from the completion of the offence (§ 76b Abs. 1 Satz 1 und 2 StGB). Anyone who counts on the matter being resolved by the limitation of prosecution is therefore mistaken; the details are set out in limitation in criminal law.

09

Frequently asked questions about the Vermögensarrest

How quickly can a block on an account be lifted again? That cannot be said. What is possible is depositing the sum that has been fixed (§ 111g Abs. 1 StPO), a Beschwerde against the order (§ 304 Abs. 1 StPO) and an application for a court decision on measures of enforcement (§ 111k Abs. 3 StPO).

Why is a higher sum blocked than I earned? Because in principle what is skimmed off is what was obtained and not the profit. What was spent on committing or preparing the offence is left out of account when the value is determined, in so far as it was not performance to the injured person (§ 73d Abs. 1 Satz 2 StGB).

Can an arrest affect my company although there is nothing against the company? Yes. § 73b Abs. 1 Satz 1 Nr. 1 StGB covers a person who obtained something through the offence where the offender or participant acted for them. The counter rights of third parties are governed by § 73e Abs. 2 StGB.

Which allegations can lie behind it? What comes into consideration above all are allegations of Betrug under § 263 Abs. 1 StGB and Steuerhinterziehung under § 370 Abs. 1 AO. The arrest says nothing about whether the allegation is justified; it presupposes only that the assumption that the requirements for confiscation are met is well founded (§ 111e Abs. 1 Satz 1 StPO).

10

What happens next

In arrest proceedings the first days count, because the economic consequences take effect at once while the decision on the order takes time. The basis of every response is the case file (§ 147 Abs. 1 StPO). How we support companies and the people responsible for them can be read on our page on white collar crime; where the underlying allegation is a tax one, the page on tax criminal law is also relevant.

This information is general in nature and does not replace advice on an individual case. It reflects the statutory texts as checked on 10 August 2026.

If you would like to discuss your case, you can reach the office by telephone or by email.

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Provisions referred to

The provisions mentioned in this article, each with a link to the official German text.