Austrian prosecutors accuse René Benko for the stabbing of tens of millions

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Vienna’s criminal prosecutors have accused René Benko for tens of millions of euros in the collapse of his real estate empire in 2023, including the potentially Signa Group Sales of EUR 46 million through the sale of Italian luxury, according to his own authorities.

Benko, who led a group who owned half of the New York Chrysler building, which is part of London’s Selfridges and some of Germany’s largest department stores, was arrested in Austria last month after a criminal investigation into prosecutors in Vienna, Munich and Berlin.

But signa what was Built $ 5 billion in debtbegan to break down late 2023 When one of its central companies, Signa Holding, sought insolvency. Benko himself applied for personal insolvency last March.

Benko has been in a pre -trial arrest in Austria since January due to alleged assault, embezzlement and fraudulent bankruptcy.

Criminal prosecutors in Berlin and Munich also investigated potential abuse and Italian law enforcement authorities gave the arrest order Last year for suspicious fees to local officials.

In December, Benko’s lawyer said his client was convinced that « the allegations against him can be materially misrepresented ».

According to a 38 -page arrest provided by the Austrian prosecutors and seen by the Financial Times, Benko is accused of deceiving business partners to a failed real estate company of EUR 35 million while transferring cash and funds worth tens of millions of euros in creditors – including EUR 8 million, Parykte PHIPPE EUR 90,000 -Clock and expensive hunting rifles.

One of the controversial transactions identified by prosecutors is the sales of Italian luxury Villa Eden Gardonen in 2023.

Instead of cash, prosecutors claim that the mansion was paid for the use of shares in the Signa daughter, which became worthless when the community applied for insolvency three months later.

Prosecutors claim that the trade was « artificial and economically unlikely » because it changed the luxury of the real estate in a company that is heavily devalued for equity.

They claim that the deal was randomly performed and the sales documents lacked a detailed description of the changing hands of the funds, normally a standard procedure for such a complex contract.

In addition, prosecutors claim that Benko invited shots in two family foundations – one of his mother Ingeborg, a retired kindergarten teacher, and one of his daughter Laura – who were parties to many suspicious transactions.

The prosecutors also raised a cash payment of EUR 2 million in 2023 to a person close to him: part of the payment series 2018-2023, which was EUR 15.5 million in accordance with the arrest order.

They blame Benko for hiding his ownership of EUR 8 million in Innsbruck Manor and kept the payment of EUR 360,000 in October 2023 to a legal unit that owned the property he used in Innsbruck, describing it as an advance payment. for the next four years. Prosecutors claim that this fee lacked « objective justification ».

At the same time, Benko organized a stripping of the alleged property in 2023, and he was also allegedly misleading about his financial health.

In the middle of 2013, when his own investment vehicle was in cash for less than a few thousand euros in cash and, according to an insolvent survey, Benko promised that he would personally pay EUR 35 million to the increase of EUR 350 million with Signa Holding, the arrest order states.

Prosecutors claim that he channeled the investments of two of his business partners through several legal entities in the kingdom to cover the origin of the funds and misunderstood the money in his own contribution.

Benko’s lawyer did not respond to the request for comment. Vienna prosecutors refused to comment.