What is Asset Concealment Crime? How to Defend Yourself

The offense of concealment of assets refers to fraudulent acts committed by debtors to prevent their creditors from collecting what is owed to them. Following the 2008 economic crisis, many people were forced to apply for credit and, consequently, numerous defaults occurred. This led the legislator to reform Organic Law 1/2015 of March 30, making a distinction between two key categories:

• The offenses of frustration of execution, which refer to the conduct they engage in.
• The punishable insolvencies.

Not all insolvencies are punishable. Insolvency is a state in which debts exceed the available assets to pay them, creating a patrimonial imbalance. It should not be confused with lack of liquidity, which is a temporary difficulty in paying. The offense of punishable insolvency occurs when fraudulent actions are taken that prevent the payment of debts. What our criminal law punishes is the concealment of assets that causes real insolvency, actual, not fortuitous and definitive.

Can I go to prison for an offense of concealment of assets?

Generally, the offense of concealment of assets has been used by Spanish justice to pursue and punish fraudulent acts committed by debtors who attempted to evade the universal patrimonial responsibility they had to their creditors, that is, payment of the debt.

What is concealment of

Penalties for concealment of assets

The penalties for the offense of concealment of assets are regulated in article 257 of the Spanish Criminal Code. The sanctions vary according to the severity of the case and the damage caused to creditors. The penalties that may be imposed are detailed below:

The penalty for concealment of assets when it is proven that the debtor has acted fraudulently by hiding or disposing of their assets to avoid payment of their debts is punished with a penalty of 1 to 4 years imprisonment and a fine of 12 to 24 months.

I have been reported for an offense of concealment of assets, how would I be liable?

There are different conducts that can lead us to commit concealment of assets:

• Creating mortgages on assets that may be seized, as this eliminates or reduces the value of the property making a possible seizure useless.
• Fictitious donations or sales of assets, making a patrimonial transfer to a family member, either through donation or in exchange for a price that will not be paid, with the objective of creating an apparent situation of change of ownership of the real estate, but maintaining ownership.
• Simulation of a divorce proceeding by which it is intended to transfer the debtor’s assets to the other party, through the extinction of co-ownership by adjudicating the real estate to the other in exchange for an economic pension.
• Creation of shell companies through the figure of a front person to whom the real estate is transferred with the objective of creating a s