US Edition
Fallen Austrian property tycoon Benko goes on trial over fraud charges
Benko faces charges for hiding €660,000 in assets amid Austria's largest insolvency, with damages estimated at €300 million and creditors spanning multiple countries.
- On Tuesday, René Benko pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial in Innsbruck, Austria, as prosecutors opened the first charges in a probe of Signa Holding.
- In 2023, Signa Holding collapsed in what prosecutors call Austria's largest insolvency, with estimated damages around 300 million euros and more than a dozen suspects under investigation.
- Prosecutors allege he concealed cash and 11 luxury watches worth 370,000 euros in a relative's safe and gifted 300,000 euros to his mother with a 360,000 euro villa advance.
- Benko, 48, has been in custody since his January arrest at his Innsbruck villa after being questioned in December 2024 following an Italy arrest warrant, and he called the prosecutors' `allegations` `at the height of cynicism`.
- Creditors in the United Arab Emirates and Thailand claim billions from former Signa assets including New York's Chrysler Building, while René Benko has denied wrongdoing as investigations continue.
72 Articles
72 Articles
First René Benko had his lawyer Norbert Wess write a counter-opinion on the indictment of the WKStA – then the Signa founder promptly made use of his right to remain silent. "The press has this detailed counter-opinion. It lists both substantive "incorrections" and "legally unreliable statements" of the WKStA.
In Innsbruck, the trial against real estate pleitier René Benko has started. It is about money that he is supposed to have hidden from the creditors. He himself seems to be battered. And he sees everything very differently.
After the collapse of his Signa real estate group, René Benko is on trial in Innsbruck. For him, it's about much more than just: guilty or innocent.
On Tuesday, the first criminal trial against the fallen real estate entrepreneur René Benko started in Innsbruck. The first hours of the trial already show how difficult the processing of the Signa complex should be – if it is even possible.
In the first trial against Benko the Austrian investor has known himself as "not guilty". Because he did not want to speak further, the trial day was over after two hours. Wednesday witnesses should be heard.
The first criminal trial against the founder of the trade and real estate group Signa is only a small case within the collapsed conglomerate. It is about luxury expenses despite imminent insolvency.
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