Benko's shadowy realm

Movement again on the board of the Laura Foundation

René Benko during an appearance at the Innsbruck regional court(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

A Viennese lawyer has been appointed deputy chairman of René Benko's Laura Private Foundation. Benko's long-standing pilot was recently appointed to the management body.

There has been another change at the official management level of the board of the Laura Private Foundation based in Innsbruck: according to the company register, the new deputy chairman of the board of the foundation, which was established by René Benko and his mother Ingeborg in 2006, is Viennese lawyer Stefan Makas, who worked at the law firm of Benko's criminal defense lawyer Norbert Wess (wkk law) until 2018.

Lawyer replaces Signa's head of finance
Makas replaces Benko confidant and former Signa CFO Manuel Pirolt, who stepped down from his position on the foundation's board at the end of June. The three-member board is completed by the South Tyrolean auditor Heinz Peter Hager (chairman) and Benko's long-standing private jet pilot Christof Jauschnegg, who also took over some management functions at Laura companies in the summer.

Benko's real estate shadow empire
Under the umbrella of the Laura Foundation, financial juggler Benko is said to have built up a real estate shadow empire alongside the Signa Group over the years, which has considerable real estate holdings in eastern Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz) and Austria (Innsbruck). As has been reported on several occasions, this has aroused certain covetousness among creditors, who are known to be demanding billions from bankrupt Benko.

On the advisory board until January 2024
René Benko attended a board meeting of the Laura Private Foundation in 2023. The real estate speculator sat on the influential advisory board until January 2024, when the foundation deed was amended. Suddenly, the Tyrolean no longer wanted anything to do with the foundation.

In March and April 2024, however, Benko still sent angry emails to the managing director of a Laura Immobilien subsidiary. Among other things, it said: "Are you insane?". Or: "What's this nonsense?"