Criminal law
Crimes committed by public officials
The firm's criminal lawyers specialize in criminal offenses committed by public officials. Among the principal crimes against public administration is extortion , which consists of the conduct of a public official or public service employee who, by abusing their position or the powers associated with their position, forces someone to give or promise money or other undue benefits.
Corruption, on the other hand, consists in the payment of a public official or the related promise in order to obtain an act inherent to the public function or contrary to the duties of office.
Embezzlement is the appropriation of money or other movable property that a public official has at his disposal for reasons of office or service.
The residual crime is abuse of office , which consists in procuring an unfair financial advantage or unfair damage through the violation of laws or regulations or by failing to abstain when there is a personal interest or that of a close relative.
Consulting a criminal lawyer can therefore prevent a public official from encountering such situations.
Corporate crimes
Among the principal crimes committed by company directors that can give rise to administrative liability for the entity is false corporate reporting . This consists of the disclosure of material facts that are not true, or the omission of information regarding the economic, asset, or financial situation of the company or group, which is likely to mislead recipients. Directors are required to act with the intent of deceiving shareholders or the public, and to obtain an unfair profit for themselves or others.
Other corporate crimes include the undue return of contributions to shareholders; the illegal distribution of profits and reserves; illicit transactions involving shares or quotas in the company or in the parent company; reductions in share capital or mergers or demergers in violation of the provisions of law protecting creditors ( transactions to the detriment of creditors ); financial disloyalty ; and illicit influence over the shareholders' meeting.
It is therefore advisable for directors to consult a criminal lawyer before taking any action that could lead to detrimental consequences.
Construction crimes
(Presidential Decree 380/2001)
Pursuant to the Consolidated Law on Building (Presidential Decree No. 380 of June 6, 2001) , unauthorized construction includes any construction work carried out on undeveloped land or on buildable land without approval, or any expansion of the volume or surface area, or any modification to the shape of a pre-existing building without full administrative authorization. This offense also includes any change of intended use without authorization.
Instead, material unlawful subdivision occurs when there is a prohibited or unauthorized physical transformation of the land, or when it is implemented without an administrative provision. Negotiated unlawful subdivision (also called documentary or paper-based subdivision) occurs through a legal activity aimed at preparing the transformation of the land in violation of urban planning, through the subdivision of land, the sale of land, or the performance of acts equivalent to subdivision and sale.
Crimes against property
The firm's criminal lawyers have acquired considerable experience in deceptive conduct related to the business world.
Fraud consists of the conduct of misleading others through artifice and deception, with the aim of obtaining a financial advantage related to the damage caused to the victim. Fraud is aggravated if it is to the detriment of the State or another public entity, or if it is committed by instilling in the victim the fear of an imaginary danger or the erroneous belief that they must obey an order from an authority. Other separate crimes include aggravated fraud for the purpose of obtaining public funds, computer fraud, and insurance fraud.
Theft and misappropriation consist respectively in the appropriation of another's movable property, by taking it away from the person who holds it in the first case, and by making one's own something that one already has in possession in the second case.
Extortion , on the other hand, is the crime committed by someone who, through violence or threats, forces one or more individuals to do or not to do some act in order to gain an unjust profit from it to the detriment of others.
Bankruptcy crimes
Fraudulent bankruptcy occurs when an entrepreneur misappropriates, conceals, dissimulates, destroys, or squanders all or part of his assets, or, with the intent of harming creditors, exposes nonexistent liabilities (fraudulent bankruptcy involving assets); or when he steals, destroys, or falsifies, in whole or in part, in such a way as to procure an unjust profit for himself or others or to harm creditors, books or other accounting records, or maintains them in a manner that prevents the reconstruction of assets or business transactions (fraudulent bankruptcy involving documents); or, with the intent of favoring certain creditors over others, makes payments or simulates preferential rights (this is known as fraudulent bankruptcy involving preferential rights).
Simple bankruptcy, however, applies when the bankrupt entrepreneur is attributable to excessive personal expenses compared to his financial circumstances, manifestly imprudent transactions, or to having aggravated his own financial insolvency by refraining from filing for bankruptcy.
The firm's criminal lawyers also provide assistance even before the company becomes insolvent.
Defamation
Defamation punishes the offense to another's reputation caused by communicating with multiple people. A distinction is made between a subjective and an objective insult to honor, the former referring to the individual's sense of self-respect, the latter referring to the esteem and consideration others have for us.
Defamation is aggravated by the attribution of a specific fact or by its commission through the press , which is equivalent to any other means of advertising (radio, television, Internet).
The exercise of the right to free expression under Article 21 of the Constitution is recognized as a justification, in the forms of reporting, criticism, and satire . However, case law has subjected the exercise of these rights to respect for the limits of the truth of the reported facts, the formal accuracy of the presentation, and the public interest in disclosing the facts.
Consulting a criminal lawyer is therefore essential to avoid the criminal consequences examined.