He was involved in an affair concerning the theft of some sensitive documents from Colonel Freyberg, a White Russian emigrant based in Berlin. For his part in this he was detained by the police in July 1921. He was put on trial but managed to hide his Communist connections and convince the court that he was a "right-winger." Due to the bias often exhibited by the judicial system of the Weimar Republic, this masquerade helped him get off with a light sentence. In fact, he did not go to jail, but went into hiding.