$ 261 German Criminal Code 
English Version 
Section 261 
Money laundering; hiding unlawfully obtained financial benefits 
(1) Whosoever hides an object which is a proceed of an unlawful act listed in the 2nd sentence below, 
conceals its origin or obstructs or endangers the investigation of its origin, its being found, its confis- 
cation, its deprivation or its being officially secured shall be liable to imprisonment from three months 
to five years. Unlawful acts within the meaning of the 1st sentence shall be 
1. felonies; 
2. misdemeanours under 
(a) Section 332 (1), also in conjunction with subsection (3), and section 334; 
(b) Section 29 (1) 1st sentence No 1 of the Drugs Act and section 19 (1) No 1 of the Drug Precursors 
(Control) Act; 
3. misdemeanours under section 373 and under section 374 (2) of the Fiscal Code, and also in con- 
junction with section 12 (1) of the Common Market Organisations and Direct Payments (Implementa- 
tion) Act; 
4. misdemeanours 
(a) under section 152a, section 181a, section 232 (1) and (2), section 233 (1) and (2), section 233a, 
section 242, section 246, section 253, section 259, sections 263 to 264, section 266, section 267, sec- 
tion 269, section 271, section 284, section 326 (1), (2) and (4), section 328 (1), (2) and (4) and section 
348; 
(b) under section 96 of the Residence Act and section 84 of the Asylum Procedure Act and section 
370 of the Fiscal Code, section 38(1) to (3) and (5) of the Securities Trading Act as well as sections 
143, 143a and 144 of the Act on the Protection of Trade Marks and other Symbols, 106 to 108b of the 
Act on Copyright and Related Rights, 25 of the Utility Models Act, 51 and 65 of the Design Act, 142 
of the Patent Act, 10 of the Semiconductor Protection Act and 39 of the Plant Variety Rights (Protec- 
tion) Act. 
which were committed on a commercial basis or by a member of a gang whose purpose is the contin- 
ued commission of such offences; and 
5. misdemeanours under section 89a and under section 129 and section 129a (3) and (5), all of which 
also in conjunction with section 129b (1), as well as misdemeanours committed by a member of a 
criminal or terrorist organisation (section 129 and section 129a, all of which also in conjunction with 
section 129b (1)). 
The 1st sentence shall apply in cases of tax evasion committed on a commercial basis or as a gang 
under section 370 of the Fiscal Code, to expenditure saved by virtue of the tax evasion, of unlawfully 
acquired tax repayments and allowances, and in cases under the 2nd sentence no 3 the Ist sentence 
shall also apply to an object in relation to which fiscal charges have been evaded. 
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