Suspicion of fraud: house searches at an Austrian second division soccer team

According to the newspaper, the club’s prosperity is presumably based on investment fraud, and there are also suspicions of money laundering and slush funds. The professionals should have two contracts. House searches are said to have already taken place on Wednesday.

The allegations are primarily directed against chairman Mario Bichler. The public prosecutor’s office and the Vienna State Criminal Police Office are investigating 20 defendants from Austria, Germany and Switzerland for serious commercial fraud, including Bichler. It is the presumption of innocence.

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There was talk among investigative circles of very successful house searches after Wednesday.

A “pyramid scheme”

The focus is on a “pyramid scheme” in which thousands upon thousands of people were convinced to invest their money in cryptocurrency. The club could have served as a vehicle for laundering the money through black cash flows.

Bichler did not want to comment to the “Kleine Zeitung” because of the investigation. His lawyer Andreas Hämmerle explained that the club was “not under investigation” and that the allegations were only related to the (official) sponsorship agreement with the crypto company in question. However, this was ended after four months. Bichler had nothing to do with it. “That can be 100 percent ruled out.”

In terms of sport, the club has experienced great success recently, achieved promotion twice in a row and is currently in seventh place in Austria’s second division.