Investor Benko sentenced to further prison for fraud worth millions

Investor Benko sentenced to two years in prison for fraud worth millions As of: November 5th, 2026 • 6:56 p.m

The allegations against the Austrian real estate investor René Benko are extensive: after a conviction for damaging creditors in September, another one for fraud follows. It is not yet legally binding.

In a new case - in this case for serious fraud - the Austrian real estate entrepreneur René Benko was sentenced to two years in prison. As the Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported, the Innsbruck regional court found it proven that the founder of the Signa Group had damaged an investor by five million euros. The verdict is not yet final.

The Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) accused Benko of having defrauded the private foundation of the industrialist Hans Peter Haselsteiner by giving the investor a "false guarantee" and thereby enticing him to pay five million euros. He urgently needed the money for the sports trading subsidiary Sportscheck at the beginning of November 2023.

An advance on rent costs was the ex-billionaire's downfall. more

The guarantee statement was purely a deception and Benko never seriously intended to pay Haselsteiner the money back, argued the senior public prosecutor. The 49-year-old defendant denied the allegations. As a witness, Haselsteiner, however, emphasized the importance of the guarantee. He was asked for the money - and he would not have made it available without Benko's promise, he explained. The court ultimately followed the prosecution's presentation.

The Signa founder was acquitted on a second charge. It was about the accusation that Benko had hidden a luxury hunting rifle worth 80,000 euros from creditors.

The Austrian should be able to prepare for his new trial with an ankle bracelet under house arrest. more

The new conviction extends the previous prison sentence of two and a half years, which was imposed in a previous trial for damaging creditors. The Innsbruck regional court ruled in September that he had paid an advance on rent costs of 360,000 euros for a property in Innsbruck, even though his Signa company empire was already in very critical shape. The process had to be partially reopened at that time.

Benko is currently still in custody, but he has been allowed to stay in a private apartment with an ankle bracelet since mid-October. By taking into account the pre-trial detention, he has already mathematically served a large part of the prison sentence from the September verdict. However, this judgment is not yet legally binding.

Further investigations into the collapse of the Signa Group are ongoing against Benko - in Austria and other countries, including Germany.

This topic in the program: BR24 Radio | News | November 5, 2026 | 6:15 p.m