Fraudster sentenced

He loved fast cars and fast money

The 34-year-old was finally sentenced on Wednesday.(Bild: Constantin Handl)

A 34-year-old man from Linz had achieved both - but unfortunately not through legal channels. On Wednesday, he had to answer for numerous fraud offenses before the Linz Regional Court. The sentence was handed down quickly: four and a half years in prison and he has to pay back a six-figure sum to the victims.

A 34-year-old man from Linz brought two defense attorneys to the regional court on Wednesday. One only for tax fraud, his colleague for all other acts of fraud. The man with a relevant criminal record had posed as a successful dealer of computer hardware, software and luxury cars from 2021 until this year.

Large sums elicited
He had extracted large sums of money (around 1.2 million euros in total) from investors and never delivered products that had been sold. In addition, there were non-existent Windows licenses. Their buyers had claimed a total of 455,000 euros as input tax, for which the 34-year-old was charged as an accomplice. However, this sum was never paid out.

The man from Linz had borrowed this Aston Martin from a car rental company in Graz, but was in arrears with the installments. It was the same with his expensive rented apartments.(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

In court, the man from Linz was tight-lipped, saying only that he had only used the money to keep the business running and maintain his luxurious lifestyle. "It's clear from the files that you have a clever mind and are a brilliant salesman - you could talk an Inuk (Eskimo) into buying a freezer. Unfortunately, you don't have the patience to really build something up, you just want to make a quick buck - and that is now taking its toll," the chairwoman summed up. He must now spend four and a half years behind bars and pay the injured parties a high six-figure sum.