So, lets assume I find a quiet little firearms store.
And in that store, they have a case with an assortment of Nazi stuff. WW2 relics.
Upon asking about some of it, I get in a conversation with the proprieter, and he says casually that there is a guy, who comes in a few times a year, buys all of it he can get his hands on, and takes it to Holland (the man in question is from Holland) and then takes them into Germany to sell.
Assume that the proprietor, when informed by me that this gentleman from Holland is violating German law if he is actually selling this stuff in Germany, says something to the effect of “Well, I don’t know anything about that” and dismisses it with a wave.
Is the proprieter guilty of any law breaking, now that he knows of the German law that the buyer is violating? Can he, hypothetically, get in trouble with the authorities?
And, were this a true situation, would there be a sizeable reward for information leading to this being revealed to the authorities?
IANAL - my wild guess:
It’s one thing to be innocent, it’s another to avoid prosecution or have to prove it.
If the store is somewhere where the transactions are legal, then no laws are broken there.
If the authorities in Germany catch wind of the deal, investigate, and find the people and circumstances involved, and determine that in fact Nazi memorabilia is being sold (illegal) in Germany… Then the next time the dealer flies in to Germany for a Wagner festival, he may be detained on arrival and charged with conspiracy to smuggle and sell illegal goods.
Whether he will be convicted depends on what the German law on conspiracy says, and how much the fellow knew. The fact hat he blabbed it to another customer suggests he knew something. At what point does it become conspiracy? I suspect it also depends on further activities - how energetic he was in procuring more merchandise, whether it was to meet specific requests of the man form Holland, etc.
Basically doing something right in your own country does not absolve you of being prosecuted for it in another country. Both Australia and Britain, IIRC, have extradited hackers to the USA on dubious grounds who never set foot in that country. A Russian programmer was held (until a deal was made) for a DRM-breaking software written and marketed in Russia. A marijuana seed mailer in Canada was extradited to the USA despite the fact that the Canadian authorities did not care to prosecute him for conspiracy to traffic. (In that case, it was part of a deal to avoid having his employees jailed for 20 years instead - the AMerican prosecutors play hardball. DO you think the Germans are easy-going?)
Whether all this is legit or not, consider that if Holland-man is caught on a smuggling run, he may turn in his dealer in return for a lessser sentence. After all, a few years of his sentence is worth a few words of twisted and exagerrated testimony on what the dealer knew; and Germay s not worried about chilling the world-wide market for Nazi memorabilia, Im sure.
Interesting. That was essentially what my wife said too. Since the store is here in the US, and the buyer (in theory, of course) is buying them here where it is legal, the store has no liability with whatever the buyer does with them once he has them.
Assuming the transfer of weapons to Germany is illegal under Dutch law, he could get in trouble for doing business with the guy over the phone while the guy’s in Holland. Or under German law while the guy’s in Germany. Conspiracy, wire fraud, accessory, etc.
Assuming transporting the firearms out of the US is illegal, he could be in trouble under US law, too. Just because the sale is legal doesn’t mean he’s out of the woods. For example, if I lend you money, and I know you’ll use it to buy cocaine, I could still be criminally culpable even if you’re not buying the cocaine for me or giving me a cut.
That would have to be the case if all he did was sell them, legally, and didn’t know or care what his buyer was doing with them later. But he is allegedly telling everyone that he knows in advance this frequent buyer goes on to sell the items illegally in Germany. IANAL either but that admission seems like it could expose him to some kind of prosecution in Germany as an accomplice to the crime. He is essentially partnering with someone in a conspiracy to commit a crime in Germany for profit. Whether any of it could be proven is another question.
German lawyer here. This is actually quite accurate (with the usual caveat that the answer to legal questions may always depend on a lot of details and vary with them). If the goods are those the distribution of which is illegal in Germany, then giving these goods to someone who the guy knows will violate German law by distributing them in Germany would most likely be seen as abetment to that crime (Beihilfe in legal German). And under § 9(2) of the German Criminal Code, an English translation of which I don’t have at hand, German courts would assume jurisdiction over that crime.
Of course, this would still require German authorities (1) to know of what’s going on and (2) to get hold of the guy. But a criminal offence under German law is there.
