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Criminal law and capital markets

The EU and national legislators have enacted a wide range of measures to protect investors and the financial markets. The capital market is subject to strict regulation. The “typical” violations of the criminal law governing capital markets include investment fraud, insider trading, breaches of ad-hoc reporting requirements and market manipulation.

Such investigations may look into suspicions of breach of trust, incorrect presentation of balance sheets or accusations of providing false information. The supervisory authorities can now publicly disclose any violations of the Securities Trading Law, leading to considerable reputational damage.