Judgment in Innsbruck
Judges sentence René Benko to two years in prison
After two days, the trial against entrepreneur and ex-billionaire René Benko is over. He denied the allegations against him. But the judges found him guilty.
The Austrian investor René Benko has been sentenced to two years in prison for damaging his creditors. The 48-year-old ex-billionaire had set aside assets through a gift of 300,000 euros to his mother, a jury at the Innsbruck regional court ruled. Benko was acquitted in the case of an advance payment of rent costs of 360,000 euros. The judgment is not final.
Just one of 14 procedures
In this case, Benko had to answer for his insolvency as a sole proprietor. The indictment is just one strand of a total of 14 cases in which the Austrian judiciary alone is mostly investigating serious fraud and breach of trust.
The proceedings are considered the start of a possible series of lawsuits surrounding the largest bankruptcy in Austria’s recent history. In the fall of 2023, the real estate and trading conglomerate Signa, consisting of more than 1,130 companies, gradually slipped into insolvency. Rising interest rates and our own mistakes had undermined Signa’s business model.
The creditors’ total claims on Signa Holding and its individual companies are in the billions of euros.
Benko also made headlines in Germany with, among other things, the purchase of the department store groups Kaufhof and Karstadt. In retrospect, the entry into stationary retail is seen as one of the negative factors for Signa’s business.
René Benko was a billionaire several times over
The Tyrolean’s fall is deep. During his heyday, Benko’s fortune was estimated at almost five billion euros. His career as a real estate specialist began while he was still at school in Innsbruck. At that time he didn’t graduate from high school, but instead converted attics. The school dropout also had great powers of persuasion. He managed to get major investors on board with Signa, which he founded in 1999.
The takeover of the Tyrol department store in Innsbruck caused a stir in 2004. In Vienna he developed the “Golden Quarter” in a prime city center location. He later took part in buildings such as the Chrysler Building in New York, the luxury department store Selfridges in London and the Elbtower in Hamburg.
Note: This article has been updated.
DPA
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Source: Stern
