CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Jorge Bofill and César Ramos, Bofill Escobar Silva
4.3 Plea Agreements, Co-Operation, Self- Disclosure and Leniency Plea agreements are available when the conviction sought by the Prosecutor’s Office does not exceed five years of imprisonment. When defendants acknowl - edge the crime for which they are being prosecuted, they may apply for a reduced conviction, with the authorisation of the judge. There are no other guidelines that judges and/or pros - ecutors should follow in any of these situations. If the crime is considered an economic crime accord - ing to Law No 21,595, the mitigating and aggravating circumstances available will change, as mentioned in 1.6 Sentencing and Penalties . Regarding individuals, self-reporting or substantial co-operation in the context of a criminal investigation may be considered as mitigating factors when consid - ering the extent of criminal responsibility. Law No 21,694 severely modifies co-operation in criminal procedures, establishing new legislation regarding effective co-operation, qualified effective co-operation and co-operation agreements. Effective co-operation is reinforced substantial co- operation, requiring the administration of precise, truthful and verifiable information that allows clarifica - tion of the facts under investigation, the identification of the perpetrators, the prevention or impediment of other crimes, or facilitation any confiscation. This kind of co-operation is only available in cases of illicit asso - ciations, drug dealing, arms trafficking, terrorism, eco - nomic crimes, money laundering and other especially severe crimes. The court must recognise the effective co-operation established in a co-operation agreement with the Public Prosecutor, but can also recognise it without one, reducing the penalty of the crime. Qualified effective co-operation requires the admin - istration of precise, truthful and verifiable information that allows one to: (i) identify the leaders, criminal bosses or financiers of illicit associations, presum - ing their intervention in crimes, (ii) identify products, money or source of income of illicit associations and facilitate their confiscation, or (iii) identify the place
Stock Market, as explained in 3.4 Insider Dealing, Market Abuse and Criminal Banking Law . 3.16 Crypto-Assets and Digital Currency Crimes These new technologies have not yet been regulated by Chilean Law; therefore, misuse can only be pros - ecuted if it constitutes an already-established crime. For example, the rules regarding fraud and money laundering can be applied to cases that involve cryp - to-assets and digital currency, because they can be valuable goods. However, other already-established rules may be insufficient to prosecute this new type of criminality, such as those around market manipula - tion, because many crypto-assets are traded in for - eign or unregulated markets. Crypto-asset and digital currency service providers operating from Chile are subject to Law 20,393 and can be criminally liable, as explained in 1.5 Corporate and Personal Liability . There are no special defences available for individuals charged in connection with white-collar offences. In that sense, those offenders have the same defences available to them as for other crimes. Defendants in the Chilean criminal system have ample rights of defence; they are granted access to the file at the beginning of the investigation and have broad access to an attorney, including the Public Criminal Defence. As mentioned in 1.5 Corporate and Personal Liability , Law No 20,393 considers the effective implementa - tion of a suitable crime-prevention model as a circum - stance which may exempt companies from criminal liability. Even when it does not meet the requirements for exemption from criminal liability, it may be accept - ed as a mitigating factor. 4.2 De Minimis The Chilean criminal system does not contemplate de minimis exceptions of any kind regarding white-collar offences. 4. Pleas and Defences 4.1 White-Collar Defences
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