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The raid caused a stir nationwide: in December of last year, 500 officers, some of whom were heavily armed, searched 27 objects in Berlin and Hamburg at the same time, executing three arrest warrants against two Abou-Chaker brothers and another man.
The raid in the rocker and clan milieu involved many allegations, including violent money collection, fraud, and drug trafficking.
Money is also said to have been laundered through real estate transactions.
The investigation was directed against 36 people.
Together they are said to have formed a criminal organization.
The public prosecutor said at the time: "We are fighting against parallel justice and organized crime."
How these parallel structures work is shown by a partial aspect of the whole procedure, which started on Friday before the Berlin district court.
The list of defense counsel already showed that the procedure is complex.
The four defendants had a total of ten lawyers with them.
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What is it about?
The four defendants are accused of having "acquired" an apartment building in Berlin-Friedrichshain between May and November 2019 using forged sales documents.
The house actually belonged to a retired couple who didn't notice anything.
The investigators are certain that the two Abou-Chaker brothers Rabih and Mohamad were the masterminds of the deal and organized forged documents and powers of attorney.
They should get help from the lawyer Stefan Gö.
and the straw man Lothar G. got.
The plan is said to have been to resell the property for a profit.
The money was to be split 50 percent between the Abou-Chaker brothers and the accused G., who in turn gave a share to the lawyer Gö.
should pay.
A notary, who is being investigated separately, is also said to have been involved in the act.
As a reward, he is said to have received a cancellation of his debts in the amount of one million euros.
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How did the deal go?
According to investigators, the alleged sale was entered in the land register through the deception of the land registry officials, and the property was thereby transferred.
The original owners suffered damage of at least three million euros as a result of the loss of their rights to the property.
The separately prosecuted notary is said to have initially been responsible for obtaining information.
He is said to have found out that the property is debt-free, the owners are elderly and do not live in Berlin.
For the implementation of the joint crime plan, lawyer Gö.
As sole managing partner, founded a real estate company mBH on July 5, 2019, which was certified by the notary.
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The notary is said to have also certified the alleged purchase contract for the price of 250,000.
The lawyer's GmbH should then hold the shares of the transferred property in trust for a GmbH, whose shareholder and managing director is Strohmann G.
As part of the negotiations, lawyer Gö.
as the unauthorized representative of the pensioner and her husband who actually owned the house.
The couple is said to have never known about it.
In the meantime, the Abou-Chaker brothers are said to have found two as yet unknown accomplices who furnished them with forged identity papers and passed them off as the owner couple.
After the purchase, the accused are said to have forged a document in which the actual owners acknowledged receipt of the sum.
Straw man G. and lawyer Gö.
and the notary are said to have submitted the falsified documents to the Tempelhof-Kreuzberg district court in the land registry.
The accused justified the low purchase price with the assumption of liabilities in the amount of 3.5 million euros, which the GbR of the actual owner-married couple should have had.
On November 6, 2019, the new real estate company of the lawyer Gö.
registered as the new owner, the actual owners deleted from the land register.
The deal was blown because the couple who actually owned the house got a termination for their home insurance.
The woman told the BILD newspaper: "I was amazed and reported to the police".
The two Abou-Chaker brothers and Rainer G. have been in custody since the raid. The lawyer Gö. was spared. The defendants initially did not want to get involved in the allegations in court. If convicted, the defendants face up to ten years imprisonment. The trial is due to continue on Tuesday.