Creditor deceived?: Process against ex-billionaire Benko on October 14th and 15th

The first criminal trial against the Austrian investor and ex-billionaire René Benko will take place on October 14th and 15th at the Innsbruck District Court. The 48-year-old had to answer for suspicion of the fraudulent crida on the two days of the trial, the court said. The term from Austrian criminal law roughly corresponds to bankruptcy in Germany.

Benko is said to have asset assets as part of his bankruptcy and thus damaged his creditors. The damage amount was 660,000 euros, it said. Benko threatens one to ten years in prison in the event of a conviction.

Process only includes a partial aspect of the allegations

Benko has been in custody since January. The first process around the bankruptcy of the Signa Group includes only a more manageable part of the allegations. It is still determined in around a dozen other strands. Among other things, it is about suspicion of fraud and infidelity.

The Tyrolean entrepreneur, courted by politics and society, had built up a nested company network in the low-interest phase. His Signa Group invested in real estate and companies, including in the Hamburg Elbtower, the Galeria Warenhaus Group and the Luxury department store KaDeWe. In addition to internal problems, Signa was brought down from rising interest rates, energy prices and construction costs.