Austrian court sentences René Benko to 30 months in prison over creditor fraud

Extended sentence in Innsbruck retrial

On Tuesday afternoon, the Innsbruck Regional Court found 49-year-old Austrian investor René Benko guilty of fraudulent bankruptcy and harming his creditors. The court sentenced the founder of the collapsed Signa real estate conglomerate to two and a half years, or 30 months, in prison. The decision increases the penalty from an initial two-year sentence handed down in October 2025. Presiding judge Norbert Hofer led the lay assessor proceedings, which heard from seven scheduled witnesses before delivering the verdict on Tuesday. Under Austrian law, the statutory sentencing range for the offense spans from one to ten years of imprisonment. The trial drew accreditation from about 20 media representatives, compared to roughly 80 journalists during the original hearings in October 2025.

The disputed villa lease prepayment

The retrial centered on an advance payment of 360,000 euros that Benko made in autumn 2023 for a four-year residential lease and operating costs on a villa in Innsbruck's Hungerburg district. Prosecutors from the Vienna Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office argued that Benko improperly depleted assets otherwise available to creditors at a time when the Signa group was already disintegrating. The prosecution maintained that the lease was concluded without any valid external reason shortly before insolvency proceedings began. The prosecutor emphasized during opening arguments that the property was initially uninhabitable due to a landslide, making the upfront payment economically indefensible.

The damage occurred beforehand. The offense was already completed when the insolvency administrator became active.

Defense arguments and appellate review

Benko pleaded not guilty, delivering his first oral testimony in a criminal proceeding related to the Signa collapse. He testified that in late 2023, he remained firmly convinced that restructuring plans for the Signa conglomerate would succeed. Benko explained that he leased the Hungerburg house alongside his family residence in Igls at the request of his wife to provide their children with a normal daily school routine without domestic staff.

In the original October 2025 trial, the Innsbruck Regional Court convicted Benko over an unlawful 300,000-euro gift to his mother but acquitted him regarding the Hungerburg lease payment. Austria's Supreme Court confirmed the conviction regarding the gift in early July 2026, establishing Benko's first legally binding criminal conviction, while overturning the partial acquittal on the rental advance and returning the matter for retrial.

Signa collapse and wider liabilities

Benko has remained in pre-trial detention since January 2025 as Austrian authorities pursue multiple ongoing investigations against him and other former Signa executives. The Signa conglomerate grew into a vast property and retail portfolio before collapsing under the weight of higher interest rates, rising construction costs, and acquisitions of German department store chains Karstadt and Kaufhof. Former investors now seek approximately 28 billion euros in claims from insolvent Signa corporate entities and Benko directly. The corporate failure also prompted Zurich-based bank Julius Bär to write off 606 million Swiss francs in loans in early 2024 and led to the sale of Swiss department store group Globus to Thailand's Central Group.