Tag: Nathalie Benko

Italian prosecutors in Trento have moved to drop the heaviest “mafia-style criminal organisation” allegations against former tycoon René Benko in the Romeo investigation. But an investigating judge is pushing back, while in Austria Benko faces two non-final convictions for fraudulent bankruptcy and remains in pre-trial detention over the wider Signa collapse.

The Innsbruck Regional Court in Austria has convicted former real-estate tycoon René Benko for a second time for fraudulent bankruptcy (betrügerische Krida), handing down a 15-month suspended sentence over hidden cash and luxury items in a family safe. His wife, Nathalie Benko, was acquitted. The ruling is not final and touches only a small asset-transfer strand, not the core Signa investigations.

Austria’s fallen real-estate tycoon René Benko and his wife Nathalie Benko are facing a second indictment for fraudulent bankruptcy (betrügerische Krida). Prosecutors allege that cash and luxury assets were secretly moved into a family safe to keep them out of the insolvency estate. The case escalates Benko’s already serious criminal exposure after a first, non-final prison sentence.

Austria’s first Benko trial has delivered a breakthrough: the Innsbruck Regional Court convicted the former real estate tycoon René...

The dramatic crash of Austrian real estate speculator Rene Benko could be a case for the Guinness Book of Records and for a Netflix movie. Within months, the former Forbes billionaire has become a bankruptcy giant, pursued by former investors. In December 2023, Forbes removed the Signa Group founder from its list of international billionaires. Benko's private fortune, once estimated at around €5.5 billion in 2023, has seemingly vanished, leaving investors in disbelief.