Tag: Robert Schimanko

One of Europe’s largest corporate bankruptcies just got messier. René Benko, founder of the collapsed Signa Group, remains in pre-trial detention as prosecutors widen their net to include his wife, Natalie Benko, and inner-circle associates like banker Robert Schimanko. At the heart of the investigations: embezzlement, fraudulent bankruptcy, off-market asset deals, and suspicious money flows through Liechtenstein foundations.

Georg Stumpf is a man who has made billions while avoiding the limelight. The son of a prominent Austrian contractor with close ties to the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), Stumpf built his empire from real estate — including Vienna’s iconic Millennium Tower — and later expanded into industrial holdings. But what truly puts him on FinTelegram’s radar are his deep connections to Russian oligarchs.

The once-celebrated real estate mogul René Benko is being publicly denounced by his former top-tier investors. German logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne, who invested over €500 million in Signa, now calls Benko a "first-class crook" and admits to being "lulled" by him. As Austrian prosecutors deepen their investigations into Benko’s web of deception, the case continues to expose the high-level enablers, political protectors, and global investors caught in the fallout of one of Europe’s largest white-collar scandals.

Robert Schimanko has long operated behind the scenes — a discreet financial advisor in elite Austrian business circles. But with the collapse of the Signa Group and the criminal investigations into René Benko’s empire, Schimanko has stepped into the spotlight. Not by choice, but by consequence.

At a time when the world is grappling with the fallout from Klaus Schwab’s resignation and the financial scandal around the World Economic Forum (WEF), a new power center has emerged in the shadows: the World Economic Council (WEC), operating from a virtual office in Vienna and led by figures now tied to one of Europe’s biggest white-collar scandals — the collapse of René Benko’s Signa Group.

As FinTelegram previously reported, the pre-trial detention of Austrian real estate magnate Rene Benko has been extended by another two months. But while Benko remains in custody, the investigators' attention is increasingly drawn to a suspiciously well-funded foundation in Liechtenstein — and to the opaque network surrounding the SilverArrow Capital Group and WEC.

Vienna, April 2025 – The legal noose around Rene Benko, once hailed as one of Europe’s most influential real estate moguls, is tightening. The Vienna Regional Criminal Court has again extended his pre-trial detention by another two months. According to the court, there remains strong suspicion and a significant risk of the crime being committed again.

Swiss entrepreneur in Thurgau and coffee king Arthur Eugster has reportedly lost CHF 650 million in the collapse of Rene Benko’s Signa empire—one of the largest individual financial losses in Swiss history. As public prosecutors in Austria probe the inner circle of Benko’s fraudulent network, two familiar names from past scandals resurface: Robert Schimanko and Thomas Limberger. Both men, now linked to Benko’s foundations.

The financial world in Europe is still reeling from the collapse of Rene Benko’s Signa Group, one of the largest and most scandalous bankruptcies in European history. Amid the rubble, a curious pattern has emerged: leading figures from the World Economic Council (WEC) — including Robert Schimanko, Thomas Limberger, and their legal advisor and business partner William H. Shawn — have quietly moved into strategic leadership positions within foundations linked to Benko.

SilverArrows Capital Group, a global investment and advisory firm associated with high-profile figures such as Thomas Limberger, Robert Schimanko, and William H. Shawn, has recently come under scrutiny due to its proximity to the scandalous bankruptcy of Rene Benko’s Signa Group. The firm and its key personnel maintain strong ties to two seemingly influential yet opaque organizations in Germany and Austria.

The collapse of the once-largest European real estate development group SIGNA of the Austrian Rene Benko continues to reveal new layers of intrigue, financial entanglements, and power struggles. While some focus on the billions lost by high-profile investors, the investigative platform Wiener Zocker has now uncovered a particularly exclusive network that has continued to thrive in Benko’s shadow – the World Economic Council (WEC).

This report investigates the extensive Austrian connections to two of the largest financial fraud cases in U.S. history: the Manhattan Investment Fund (MIF) fraud and the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Austrian financiers Ronny Pecik and Robert Schimanko, through their M&A Privatbank, played key roles in the European feeder network that facilitated these financial crimes.