Not just the luxury

What connects Rene Benko with the Carinthian EXW fraudsters

Instead of a luxury watch, the first-instance convicted crypto fraudster only gets handcuffs.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

Why and how Carinthia's biggest fraud trial involving the EXW gang from Lake Wörthersee is going into extra time this year, how expensive it is for taxpayers - and what connects the main defendant (27) with Signa bankrupt René Benko.

It was a trial of superlatives that ended in October with five convictions and just as many acquittals: Judge Claudia Bandion-Ortner had spent over a year and 62 trial days meticulously trying to clarify how the EXW gang from Wörthersee allegedly used a fake cryptocurrency to defraud more than 40,000 victims around the world of up to 100 million euros.