[Direct answer]In the Beijing area, the strategy for defending against economic crimes can be summarized as "preemptive, precise, and process-oriented": shifting the focus to the investigation and review of prosecution stages, striving for non-approval of arrest, bail pending trial, and non-prosecution, while building an evidence system around three substantive defense points: subjective awareness, the amount involved, and the status of principal and accomplice. According to Article 67 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (adopted on July 1, 1979 and amended for the third time on October 26, 2018), those who may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or above and whose social dangerousness will not be caused by bail pending trial may be granted bail; Article 95 stipulates that after a criminal suspect or defendant is arrested, the people's procuratorate shall still review the necessity of detention; Article 177 clearly states that if the crime is minor and no punishment is required according to the Criminal Law, a decision of non-prosecution may be made. From the date of the first interrogation or the adoption of coercive measures, the defendant has the right to appoint a defense attorney. The maximum detention period is 30 days plus 7 days for review and approval of arrest, and this "golden 37-day window" is the best time to intervene.

I. Problem Background and Typical Scenarios

Economic crimes are not a single category of crime. They typically refer to crimes against the socialist market economic order as defined in Chapter III of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, as well as crimes related to business and official duties such as embezzlement and misappropriation of funds. Common charges include illegal absorption of public deposits, fund-raising fraud, contract fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, illegal business operations, false invoicing, and organizing and leading pyramid schemes. Typical scenarios include: a company being investigated for its funding or business models, with its actual controllers, financial managers, business supervisors, and even ordinary employees being summoned for questioning simultaneously; their accounts being frozen and books being seized; and family members often only being told that "the person has been taken away" when they receive the call, with no clear understanding of the suspected charges. The subsequent handling of the case ultimately depends on the specific charges and the structure of the evidence.

II. Key points of contention

First, subjective knowledge. Most economic crimes require the perpetrator to have "knowledge" of the illegality of the fund-raising model or the company's lack of qualifications to accept public deposits, which directly determines whether the act constitutes a crime or not. This is also the main battlefield in the vast majority of cases. Second, the amount involved. During the investigation stage, the total amount raised by the company and the total account transactions are often calculated. The defense should restore the amount to the part in which the perpetrator actually participated and benefited from. Whether the salaries, commissions, and bonuses belong to illegal income needs to be checked item by item. Third, corporate and individual crimes. If the crime is committed in the name of the company and the illegal income belongs to the company, it should be identified as a corporate crime, and the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel should bear corresponding responsibilities. Ordinary employees are not automatically criminalized. Fourth, the status in a joint crime. Whether the perpetrator is a principal offender or an accomplice, and whether they participated in decision-making and core processes, are key factors in assessing sentencing and coercive measures. Fifth, coercive measures. Whether the defendant meets the conditions for bail pending trial or whether there is a need for continued detention often determines the defendant's situation earlier than the substantive defense points.

III. Professional analysis by Henglue Lawyers

The defense against coercive measures is a common battleground in all criminal cases, especially in economic crimes. Taking a case handled by our firm as an example: A * was suspected of intentional injury and was criminally detained by the Daxing Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on July 13, 2024. On July 26, 2024, he was approved for arrest and detained in the Daxing District Detention Center in Beijing. At this point, he had already exceeded the so-called "Golden 37 Days" and his family only entrusted a lawyer to intervene after that. After accepting the entrustment, the lawyer met with the client several times, sorted out the evidence in the case, and first applied to the investigative organ for bail pending trial but was not approved. Subsequently, he applied to the procuratorial organ for a review of the necessity of detention in accordance with the law and argued from three aspects: First, A * voluntarily confessed and repented, and he and his family had reached an understanding with the victim and truthfully confessed the facts of the case; Second, he was a first-time offender and an occasional offender, and the case was triggered by a trivial dispute, so his subjective malice was relatively small; Third, he ruled out the possibility of committing new crimes, destroying evidence, interfering with testimony, colluding with others, taking revenge, committing suicide, and escaping. After review, the procuratorial organ considered there was no necessity to continue detention and decided to change the coercive measures to bail pending trial. The client was released after the approval of the arrest. This case was handled by Beijing Henglu Law Firm.Lu XiaoxueThe lawyer (practice license number: 11101202311685747, subject to the document issued by the judicial administrative organ) acts as an agent. This kind of experience can be directly applied to economic crime cases: approving the arrest does not mean detaining the suspect until the end of the case. Confessions of guilt and repentance, returning the illicit proceeds and compensation, fixing the residence, and evaluating the low social dangerousness can also support the review of the necessity of detention.

IV. Practical suggestions and legal basis

The defense strategy should be implemented through specific actions. Suggestions include: 1. First, confirm the detention facility, the suspected charges, and the investigating unit as soon as possible, and engage a lawyer to conduct meetings early to avoid family members making unfavorable statements during self-communication; 2. Gather counter-evidence based on subjective knowledge, including the employment start date, job responsibilities, company regulations, training materials, and internal communication records, to prove that the defendant was unaware of the funding model and qualification flaws; 3. Clarify the amount involved and organize payroll records, performance records, and refund receipts to argue for the exclusion of corporate-wide amounts unrelated to the defendant; 4. Actively repay the embezzled funds and seek leniency to create conditions for review of detention necessity, non-prosecution, and mitigated sentencing; 5. Submit written legal opinions during the review and prosecution stages to strive for non-prosecution, charge modification, or reduced charges. Legal basis: - Article 176 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (adopted on July 1, 1979, amended on March 14, 1997, and further amended on December 26, 2020, effective March 1, 2021) defines the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits; - Article 192 defines the crime of fund-raising fraud; - Article 271 defines the crime of embezzlement; - Article 225 defines the crime of illegal business operations; - The Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trials of Criminal Cases Involving Illegal Fund-raising (Legal Interpretation [2022] No. 5, effective March 1, 2022) specifies standards for amounts, numbers of victims, and aggravating circumstances. Economic crimes often intertwine with corporate operations, contract performance, and tax compliance.Business and contract disputes in enterprisesThe process of organizing and summarizing the evidence can be reused, and it can be combined with other materials when necessary.Specialised legal servicesOverall assessment.

5. Henglue Law Firm's Advice

The window for defense in economic crime cases closes much earlier than most defendants imagine. In Beijing, whether the materials for returning illicit gains, admitting guilt and accepting punishment, and proving the necessity of detention are prepared during the investigation stage often directly affects the subsequent progress of the case. If these materials are prepared only during the first-instance trial, the workload and difficulty will increase significantly. Three points need to be reminded: First, admitting guilt and accepting punishment does not mean unconditional leniency. Before signing the statement of confession, the accused must verify the charges and amounts clearly to avoid admitting amounts that are unrelated to them without understanding the facts. Second, family members should not make actions that may be construed as colluding with the defendant or destroying evidence on their behalf, nor should they easily believe in so-called "internal relationships". Third, bail pending trial is just a change in coercive measures. The case is still in the process, and the defendant is still required to appear in court on time and report truthfully. At the policy level, the principles of minimizing arrests, prosecutions, and detentions, as well as the reform of corporate compliance for unit crimes and business-related crimes, have provided front-end paths such as non-prosecution for compliance. However, all these require early submission and corresponding rectification materials.Criminal defense and criminal case filingIt is one of Henglue's core businesses.Beijing Henglue Law FirmIt is recommended to design the defense plan together with the plan for returning the money and making corrections to comply with regulations.

VI. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What outcomes can be achieved in the defense of economic crime cases?

The outcome depends on the evidence in the case and the specific circumstances. No lawyer has the right to guarantee the result. The legal remedies that can be pursued include: not approving the arrest in the investigation stage; granting bail pending trial; not prosecuting in the review and prosecution stage, including cases with significantly minor circumstances and insufficient evidence; acquittal in the trial stage; changing the charge; identifying accomplices or voluntary surrender and confession; applying probation or exemption from criminal punishment. Whether these can be achieved depends on whether the subjective knowledge can be overturned, whether the amount involved in the case can be reduced, and whether there are mitigating circumstances such as returning the illicit proceeds and reaching a settlement, which need to be evaluated item by item after reviewing the case file.

Q2: What materials do I need to prepare when hiring a lawyer?

Identification and kinship materials, power of attorney; case materials such as contracts, account books, salary and performance records, job responsibilities and company regulations, training and communication records, withdrawal and understanding certificates, medical records; as well as legal documents such as detention warrants and arrest warrants. The more complete the materials are, the sooner the lawyer can determine the defense points, and it will also be easier to submit applications for bail or review of the necessity of detention to the case-handling authorities in time, making the best use of the "Golden 37 Days".

Q3: What is the approximate cost of a lawyer's fee for economic crime cases?

According to the "Measures for the Administration of Lawyers' Service Fees" (promulgated by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Prices on December 1, 2006), the defense of criminal cases is subject to government-guided pricing, with the provincial-level price authorities and the judicial administrative departments jointly determining the benchmark price and the floating range, which are then agreed upon by both parties in the entrustment contract. In practice, fees can be calculated separately for each stage of investigation, review and prosecution, and trial, or agreed upon for the entire case. The fee level is related to the number of charges, the number of people involved, the volume of case files, and whether an appraisal is required. It is recommended to clarify the scope of services and payment milestones in a written contract after a face-to-face consultation.

Q4: How long does it typically take from the filing of a case to the issuance of a judgment?

The detention period during the investigation stage generally does not exceed two months, and it can be extended according to the law if the case is complex; the review and prosecution usually takes one month, and it can be extended for major and complex cases; the first-instance ordinary procedure usually takes several months, and it will take longer if it involves appraisal, supplementary investigation, or multiple defendants. The overall pace varies from case to case. What family members can do is to provide materials according to the deadlines and cooperate with lawyers to submit legal opinions, so as to avoid missing the opportunity window for bail and non-prosecution during the waiting period.

Q5: What should you do first after your family member is taken away?

First, confirm the detention facility, the suspected crime, and the investigating unit through the case-handling authority or the detention notice, and then promptly appoint a lawyer to meet with the client to understand the client's statement and defense points. At the same time, organize materials related to subjective knowledge, job responsibilities, and the amount of money involved in the case, and evaluate the feasibility of returning the illicit gains, making restitution, and reaching a settlement. Never voluntarily provide the case-handling authority with unverified facts, nor allow the client to sign documents with unclear content.

The above Q&A is mainly based on judicial practices in the Beijing area. There may be differences in the adjudication opinions in different regions. It is recommended to consult a professional lawyer based on the specific circumstances of the case.

If you are facing similar problems, it is recommended that you consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible with the evidence materials, so as to avoid missing the statutory time limit. →Criminal defense legal services·Attorney Lu Xiaoxue·Beijing Henglu Law Firm

Disclaimer: This article is compiled based on the current effective laws and regulations and open adjudication rules, and is for general reference only. It does not constitute a formal legal opinion on specific cases. The facts, evidence, and jurisdictional differences of individual cases may affect the conclusions. If you encounter disputes, please consult a practicing lawyer in time.