Illegal donations from Switzerland - Didn't Weidel tell the whole truth?

Exclusive Illegal Donations from Switzerland Didn't Weidel tell the whole truth? As of: October 23, 2026 • 10:03 a.m

The AfD leak could shed new light on an AfD donations scandal that appeared to be over. Alice Weidel may have been involved in illegal party donations earlier and to a greater extent than she admitted. This is what research by NDR and WDR shows.

Alice Weidel's political career in the AfD had only just begun when it was threatened with a sudden end. In the summer of 2017, a total of 132,000 euros filled a campaign account in the then top candidate's district association, divided into 18 tranches, allegedly from a Swiss pharmaceutical company. At that time, Weidel was a newcomer who was surprisingly elected alongside Alexander Gauland as the AfD's top candidate for the 2017 federal election.

Because the donations were in pieces, went through a straw man and came from non-EU countries, they turned out to be illegal party donations a year later. Weidel found himself in need of explanation and the AfD had its big donations scandal. The AfD leak, which was published a few days ago by previously unknown hackers, could now shed new light on the role of today's most powerful woman in the AfD - and what she may have known about the donation.

Unknown people carried out a hacker attack on AfD email accounts and, according to their own statements, published data from them. more

When WDR, NDR and SZ Weidel uncovered the donation affair in 2018 and confronted Alice Weidel with the transactions, she stated that she only found out about them weeks after they were received. She was surprised by these donations. “I was not involved in the day-to-day business of campaign finance,” she said at the time. The newly available emails now show a decisive contradiction to Weidel's statements at the time and indicate that Weidel may have been more involved in accepting the donation, which was later classified as illegal, than she has previously publicly admitted.

The AfD leak contains an email from July 2017 with Weidel's sender ID, which states: "I have been notified of donations that I have to use to support my social media election campaign." This email was addressed to two confidants in Weidel's district association. It goes on to say that Weidel's party colleague at Lake Constance at the time should "keep an eye on the account maybe twice a week for possible donations." And: “A short written confirmation of receipts would be enough. Then we know how much we can spend.”

Another email from July 2017 with Weidel's sender ID states that a social media manager "will use the donations addressed to me on our KV account exclusively for Facebook during the election campaign. The two confidants should set up their own campaign account for such donations, to which Weidel should have personal access. Exactly four days after the donations were announced in the email, the series of transfers at that time began, in 18 tranches from Switzerland, which had a clear The intended purpose was: “Election campaign donation Alice Weidel Social Media”.

In total, the parties represented in the Bundestag have had to pay around 1.8 million euros since 2017. more

A total of 132,000 euros, divided into 18 tranches, from a Swiss pharmaceutical company. At that time, the only major entries for Weidel's federal election campaign remained on the district association accounts - and the only ones that were explicitly dedicated to social media. Parts of the money were actually used for the activities of a social media manager.

When asked, Alice Weidel's spokesman wrote that she "did not revise any of her statements in the KV Bodenseekreis donations case." It goes on to say that Weidel had many conversations with potential supporters at the time, which is why the sub-account was set up. “Ms Weidel neither expected any specific sums nor was she sure that individuals would actually donate.” She did not expect the corresponding payments from Switzerland.

Shortly after the revelations, the Konstanz public prosecutor's office began investigations. However, in September 2021, the authorities discontinued criminal proceedings under the Political Parties Act against Weidel and the other accused from their district association - due to a lack of evidence. The investigators were unable to prove to the AfD officials that they had coordinated the illegal flow of money from Switzerland with the real donor, who has now been identified, the Swiss real estate millionaire Henning Conle Jr. The new emails do not show any agreement with him either.

The party still had to pay a fine of almost 400,000 euros to the Bundestag administration because it had accepted the illegal donation and transferred it back too late. Weidel was not held personally liable by the AfD at the time because she could not be proven to be at fault. Weidel could therefore come under pressure again within the party. It is unclear whether the emails that have now emerged provide new evidence from a criminal perspective. In principle, such a procedure can be restarted with new evidence. However, alleged acts in this case are now statute-barred.

The AfD donation affair goes far beyond the Weidel case and has not come to an end to this day. It concerns various donations both to the party and to individual officials who employed public prosecutors in Europe.

Weidel received 81.3 percent of the votes at the federal party conference in Erfurt, Chrupalla 70 percent. more

In order to investigate Alice Weidel's role in the affair, the origin of the new emails could be a problem for any new investigations. They come from an illegal hacker attack that hit the AfD in September. Investigators could therefore be banned from using the data from this. The leak was published online by previously unknown hackers a few days ago and includes more than 400,000 emails and party documents.

This includes sensitive data, such as member lists and account details, federal executive board minutes, emails from top officials such as Alexander Gauland and Weidel. Reporters from NDR and WDR systematically evaluate the data. The AfD has now admitted that data was leaked due to the hack. However, the party has not confirmed the authenticity of all documents and is checking the events on its own. She has also filed a criminal complaint.

This topic in the program: NDR Info | News | Oct 23, 2026 | 08:07 a.m. tagesschau.de | Illegal donations from Switzerland - Didn't Weidel tell the whole truth? | Oct 23, 2026 | 10:15 a.m