René Benko sentenced: two years imprisonment for million-euro fraud in Innsbruck
Innsbruck Regional Court has sentenced property investor René Benko to two additional years imprisonment for serious fraud. The verdict is not yet final.
Second verdict against Benko: fraud against investor Haselsteiner
Innsbruck Regional Court has sentenced Austrian property developer René Benko to two years imprisonment in a new trial for serious fraud. As tagesschau.de reports, the court found it proven that the founder of the Signa Group had defrauded an investor of five million euros. The verdict is not yet final.
The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) accused Benko of defrauding the private foundation of industrialist Hans Peter Haselsteiner. He had given the investor a "false guarantee" and thereby induced him to pay five million euros. He said he urgently needed the money in early November 2023 for the sports retail subsidiary Sportscheck.
The senior public prosecutor argued that the guarantee declaration served purely to deceive and that Benko had never seriously intended to repay Haselsteiner the money. The 49-year-old defendant denied the allegations. Haselsteiner, testifying as a witness, however emphasised the importance of the guarantee: he had been asked for the money and would not have made it available without Benko's assurance. The court ultimately followed the prosecution's account.
On a second count, Benko was acquitted. This concerned the allegation that he had concealed a luxury hunting rifle worth 80,000 euros from creditors.
Earlier conviction and ongoing remand detention
The new conviction extends an existing prison sentence of two and a half years imposed in a previous trial for creditor defrauding. In September, Innsbruck Regional Court ruled that Benko had paid a rent advance of 360,000 euros for a property in Innsbruck despite the Signa corporate empire being in a critical situation at that time. This verdict too is not yet final.
Benko is currently still in remand detention, but has been permitted since mid-October to serve it with an electronic ankle bracelet in a private flat. With credit given for time already spent in remand, he has already served a large portion of the sentence imposed in September.
Further investigations are ongoing against the former billionaire in connection with the collapse of the Signa Group — both in Austria and in other countries, including Germany.
Source: Google News LU DE