Patricia Schlesinger goes on trial in Berlin over alleged breach of trust at RBB

The charges

Prosecutors at the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Berlin filed the indictment at the end of 2025, after a lengthy investigation, against former Intendant Patricia Schlesinger and three other former executives. They accuse the group of breach of trust between January 2018 and July 2022, during which the broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) allegedly lost almost 1.8 million euros. Schlesinger faces 26 counts, while her co-defendants face considerably fewer. Besides the bonus scheme, the indictment lists variable pay allegedly paid without the required approval of the board, unlawful allowances linked to the rotating ARD management role, and disputed payments for early retirement and release from duties. It also says the broadcaster allegedly reimbursed private hospitality and travel costs.

The bonus system

The most serious allegation concerns a bonus system for the management board, introduced in 2018 and allegedly initiated by Wolf-Dieter Wolf, who chaired the supervisory board for many years. According to the prosecutors, 933,505 euros gross were paid out in breach of duty between April 2019 and July 2022, of which 223,722 euros went to Schlesinger herself. The supervisory board had to approve such payments, but prosecutors say it was deliberately bypassed. The central claim is therefore that the money changed hands without the consent the board was required to give. Prosecutors regard this as a violation of the duty of economic efficiency and thrift. Wolf stepped down as chair in August 2022, two days after Schlesinger.

Total paid, April 2019 to July 2022933,505

Paid to Schlesinger223,722

Total paid, April 2019 to July 2022

933505 EUR

Paid to Schlesinger

223722 EUR

Data from the article text

Who sits in the dock

Alongside Schlesinger, the defendants include Hagen Brandstäter, the former administrative director and deputy Intendant, and Susann Lange, the broadcaster's former legal counsel. The indictment says both profited from the special payments. Wolf-Dieter Wolf, a real estate entrepreneur and sports official, is the fourth defendant. The four are being tried together in one proceeding before the same court. Separately, proceedings against Schlesinger's husband, journalist Gerhard Spörl, were definitively discontinued in April against a monetary penalty, so he is not in the dock.

The trial opens

The trial began before the Landgericht Berlin on 10 November 2026 amid heavy media interest. The court has planned 56 trial days through 29 June 2027. Schlesinger, now 65, rejects the allegations, as do the other defendants, and the presumption of innocence applies until a final verdict. Her lawyer Oliver Sahan said at the opening:

“It is good that the clarification of the allegations now begins.”

Sahan added that Schlesinger had directed all her decisions as Intendant solely toward the interests of the RBB. Among the observers were former ZDF chief editor Nikolaus Brender and former ARD chief editor Hartmann von der Tann. Claus Kleber, long-time presenter of ZDF's heute journals, said they wanted to follow the case as friends and former colleagues.