Schuhbeck's new strategy: How the star chef wants to win a year - and avoid jail

Created: 01/15/2023 15:01

By: Andreas Thieme

Alfons Schuhbeck, cook and entrepreneur.

© Matthias Balk/dpa/archive image

Alfons Schuhbeck was legally sentenced to prison at the end of October: the regional court gave him three years and two months.

But the star chef is playing for time: he has gained at least a year by applying for an appeal.

Time that he wants to spend looking for investors.

Munich – Alfons Schuhbeck remains stubborn.

He wants to avoid his prison sentence in any case.

This is shown by his application from Friday: The star chef justified his revision – and at the same time exchanged his lawyers.

Sascha König and Markus Gotzens, both proven tax law experts, accompanied Schuhbeck through his criminal trial.

But the 73-year-old had not expected the result: In the end, he was sentenced to three years and two years in prison.

A punishment that Schuhbeck does not want to take.

In this sense, it is only logical that Schuhbeck has separated from his two lawyers - and instead brought a specialist into his team: Professor Dr.

Ali B. Norouzi is considered a top expert in matters of revision proceedings.

In the past, he represented a Berlin death racer and the family of the Kassel district president, Walter Lübcke, who was shot.

What's next at Schuhbeck?

Due to the appeal, the Federal Court of Justice has to review its Munich judgment.

This usually takes a year.

If the BGH finds legal errors in the judgment of the first instance, the criminal tax proceedings would have to be repeated in Munich, but this time in a different criminal chamber.

That would not be realistic before the summer of 2024. By then, Schuhbeck hopes to find an investor who will take over his spice trade and the tax debts on top of that.

In this case, Schuhbeck would have killed two birds with one stone: his company would continue - and the tax damage would be repaid.

Legally, that would be interpreted to his advantage in a repeat process.

However, experts do not believe that the Federal Court of Justice will find errors of law at all.

The trial at the district court gave little reason to do so.

Apparently, Schuhbecks is only interested in saving time - the revision gives him at least a year's head start.

The star chef would then be 74 years old.

However, this is not a reason for an exemption from detention. If the Federal Court of Justice does not find any mistakes and there is no repeat process, Schuhbeck would have to move in as normal.

Because: There is no celebrity bonus in the judiciary.