Criminal trial against former rbb director Schlesinger begins

Accusation of infidelity Trial against ex-rbb director Schlesinger begins as of: November 10, 2026 • 7:42 a.m

Did Patricia Schlesinger commit a criminal offense during her time as director of the rbb? The trial against her and three other defendants opens today. The court assumes 56 days of proceedings.

The criminal trial against former rbb director Patricia Schlesinger begins on Tuesday in the Berlin district court. The Berlin public prosecutor's office accuses her, two former rbb directors and a former chairman of the rbb board of directors of breach of trust to the detriment of the broadcaster. Between January 2018 and July 2022, the four defendants are said to have damaged the rbb's assets in various ways. The focus of the allegations concerns a remuneration system in which variable salary components were paid out to members of the former management. In addition, allowances are said to have been granted inadmissibly. The public prosecutor's office assumes significant financial damage to the rbb. According to its own statement, the law enforcement agency initiated an investigation in August 2022. As a result, significant amounts of documents and electronic data were viewed and evaluated. The authority speaks of 474 gigabytes. For comparison, this text file is approximately 20 kilobytes (1 KB = 0.000001 GB). The trial is initially scheduled to last 56 days until the end of June next year.

When introducing a new remuneration system, the four defendants are said to have acted "intentionally bypassing the control and supervisory function of the board of directors and in violation of the principles of efficiency and thrift". The Attorney General's Office announced this last December. Patricia Schlesinger is accused of a total of 26 cases of breach of trust, the former chairman of the board of directors 13, the then legal director is said to have acted criminally in six cases and the former administrative director in five cases. The public prosecutor's office assumes that the four defendants were involved in varying constellations.

The charges against Schlesinger include, among other things, the costs of releasing an employee and controversial payments to another employee in connection with his early retirement. Schlesinger is said to have received partial or full reimbursement from the rbb for the costs of meals with representatives of Berlin politics, culture and business in her private apartment. The former rbb director described these meals as "official", but the public prosecutor's office assumes that they were private celebrations.

The greatest damage is said to have occurred to the rbb from April 2019 to July 2022 due to a new remuneration system for the then director and other members of the management team. It was about a “variable remuneration system”. Parts of the salary should be based on performance. According to the public prosecutor's office, however, the approval of the board of directors was missing. In total, variable salary components amounting to more than 900,000 euros are said to have been paid out to the management. According to the accusation, Schlesinger received 223,722 euros, the legal director 151,546 euros, and the administrative director 170,169 euros. Another charge relates to a so-called ARD chairmanship allowance of 1,700 euros per month for members of the management and other managers, for which, in the opinion of the public prosecutor, there was no factual reason. According to the indictment, an early retirement scheme for a former employee that was inadmissible caused financial damage of at least 662,605 euros. In seven cases, the public prosecutor's office sees the crime as particularly serious. In this regard, she speaks of a “commercial practice” or particularly high damage.

A lawyer for the ex-director told the DPA news agency: "Ms. Schlesinger made all of her decisions as director exclusively based on the interests of the rbb. We will refute the allegations in full." An inquiry from rbb remained unanswered before the trial began. In response to a request from rbb, a lawyer for the former chairman of the board of directors said that the allegations made by the public prosecutor's office against her client were unfounded: "The judicial clarification of the facts will show that our client has not committed any criminal acts. On the contrary: he has always acted in the interests of the rbb." The legal representatives of the two former rbb directors left the editorial team's questions about the allegations from the public prosecutor's office unanswered. The presumption of innocence applies to all defendants.

Patricia Schlesinger was director of the rbb from July 1, 2016 and was re-elected for a second term by the Broadcasting Council in September 2020. On August 7, 2022, she resigned as director after multiple media reports about possible misconduct. A few days later, on August 22, 2022, the rbb board of directors dismissed Schlesinger without notice. Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg and the rbb board of directors independently informed rbb|24 that they would not comment on the criminal proceedings. Neither the broadcaster nor its supervisory bodies are involved in the process as co-plaintiffs. However, civil proceedings in the matter have not yet been finally concluded.

Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, November 10th, 2026, 6:03 a.m. Audio: rbb24 Inforadio, November 10th, 2026, Oda Tischewski