Hunting with friends

Benko’s tally: Child (9) allegedly shot deer

Master hunter Benko was still lying in wait in 2024.(Bild: zVg)

A chance discovery by Soko Signa: three weeks after her husband's arrest, René Benko's wife was told about the financial juggler's possible activities in a large hunting lease in Tyrol. The nasty suspicion is: Did a nine-year-old child shoot a stag?

René Benko not only bought himself a series of gold-plated shotguns and rifles, but also used them to go stalking for many years. With politicians. With bankers. With big names from the business world. Even the Signa insolvency at the end of 2023 did not deter the country's most famous bankrupt from his passion for hunting. Even if he increasingly had to do without good company.

Hunting and wellness
In the course of 2024, Benko liked to retreat to a Tyrolean friend's hunting lodge to recharge his batteries after the series of billion-dollar bankruptcies. A wellness temple with Michelin-starred cuisine, an exquisite range of wines and a 3,500-hectare hunting lease that stretches from the Stubai to the Gschnitz Valley. There, the landlord not only has marmots on offer, but also plenty of red deer. According to Tyrolean hunting law, areas over 3000 hectares require at least one professional hunter.

A nine-year-old child was along on one of these hunting trips. That wouldn't be a problem in itself if it weren't for the suspicion that the minor had brought down a stag. This is the result of chance discoveries during the investigations by Soko Signa, which were made available to the "Krone" and "News". According to the report, Benko's wife Nathalie gained a clearer picture of her husband René's potential misconduct in the hunting grounds in mid-February 2025, three weeks after her husband's arrest.

Master hunter Benko was still lying in wait in 2024.(Bild: zVg)

"That's where the hunter is"
 The hotel manager, who is also a passionate hunter, apparently let her hair down. And told us how annoyed she was by the men's hunting activities. When she wanted to congratulate René Benko on a deer kill, he is said to have pointed to a nine-year-old child present and said: "No, no, that's the hunter sitting there."

Reaction of the outraged hotel manager to Benko: "Now tell me that's not true ..." But then her husband intervened and more or less forbade her to speak: "Pull yourself together, you blede Kuah ..."

"Then the hat burns ..."
 At the Sonnenstube in February, hotel manager Nathalie Benko and her friends not only told her that she even had a photo of the child with the game she had shot. She also expressed legal concerns in conversation with the group of ladies: "If they find out, the hat will burn. Then we won't have any more hunting. Then my husband will have nothing."

According to the Tyrolean Hunting Act, hunting permits may only be issued to people with a valid Tyrolean hunting license. This requires a hunting test, which you can usually only take when you reach the age of majority. Anyone who allows children to shoot is also in breach of the Weapons Act. And: it could be cruelty to animals. This could result in up to two years in prison.

The landlord of the hunting lodge has a solicitor inform us: Neither he nor the supervising hunter of the hunting ground would violate the Hunting or Weapons Act. It could be ruled out that the incident had taken place in their hunting grounds. Benko also denies any violation of the law.