Key facts
- Rene Benko was found guilty of insolvency fraud at a retrial in Innsbruck.
- His prison sentence was increased to 30 months.
- The conviction relates to an advance rent payment of about €360,000.
- Benko was previously convicted in October on a separate insolvency fraud charge.
- The Signa property group, founded by Benko, collapsed in late 2023.
An Austrian court on Tuesday found former property tycoon Rene Benko guilty of insolvency fraud at a retrial, increasing his prison sentence to 30 months from the original two years. The case is the first to emerge from a wider criminal investigation into the collapse of the Signa property group Benko founded, which failed in late 2023 and became Austria's biggest post-war bankruptcy, leaving investors across Europe with losses.
In October, a court in Innsbruck convicted Benko on one count of insolvency fraud over a €300,000 transfer to his mother in late 2023, when Signa was already in financial difficulty. The court found the transfer was intended to put the money beyond creditors' reach. He was acquitted on a second count relating to an advance rent payment of about €360,000 for a house in Innsbruck that prosecutors argued made no economic sense. Following appeals from both sides, Austria's Supreme Court upheld the conviction and ordered a retrial on the second count.
At the end of the one-day retrial, Benko was found guilty over the rent payment but acquitted over additional operating expenses for the house that had also been paid in advance, the court said in a statement.