Laura Foundation

The Benkos’ foundation bunker slides into bankruptcy

Benkos' ostentatious villa belongs to the Laura Foundation Group.(Bild: EXPA, APA/ GERHARD HOCHMUTH)

With the Laura Private Foundation, the Benko family's most important Austrian foundation bunker is now insolvent. The board of directors filed for bankruptcy in Innsbruck. The background to this is lost arbitration proceedings.

The move came as no surprise to observers: on Wednesday, March 11, around five weeks after two momentous rulings by the International Court of Arbitration (ICC) in Switzerland, the Laura Private Foundation, based in Innsbruck, filed for bankruptcy. The background to this is payment obligations arising from the arbitration awards amounting to around one billion euros, which the foundation is no longer able to meet.

"The audits initiated by the foundation's board of directors have shown that there is insufficient chance of success in appealing these arbitration awards," explains the foundation's board of directors, pointing out that the former board members had entered into these "obligations" with the Mubadala sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi.

Benko's ostentatious villa belongs to the Laura Foundation Group.(Bild: EXPA, APA/ GERHARD HOCHMUTH)

Around 300 million in assets
In recent years, the Laura Private Foundation was considered the Benkos' main Austrian foundation bunker. It most recently held assets of around 300 million euros, including apartment buildings in eastern Germany, but also numerous properties around Innsbruck. The ostentatious villa in Innsbruck Igls, which was valued at up to €80 million at the time and was home to billionaire bankrupt René Benko until his imprisonment at the end of January 2024, also belongs to the Laura Foundation Group via a subsidiary.

At the end of December 2022, just under a year before the domino effect of bankruptcies began in Benko's Signa Group, the Laura Private Foundation still had equity of €527.56 million, according to confidential annual financial statements obtained by Krone.

Excerpt from the 2022 annual financial statements(Bild: zVg)

 's million-euro donationsOfficially, René Benko, who founded the foundation with his mother Ingeborg in early 2007, was not among the beneficiaries. Nevertheless, according to an interim report by Soko Signa, he repeatedly received large donations over the years. An excerpt:

• On December 28, 2015, Benko's mother receives a donation of 15 million euros from the Laura Private Foundation. On the same day, the 15 million euros are passed on to René Benko as a gift.

• On December 7, 2017, €1.015 million flows from the Laura Foundation to Benko's mother. On the same day, the €1.015 million is transferred to her son's account.

• On December 19, 2019, Ingeborg Benko receives €2.682 million from the Laura Foundation. This sum is transferred to her son one day later. Again as a gift.

This leaves the Benkos with the Ingbe Foundation in Liechtenstein, another significant asset bunker abroad. But even in the small principality, there are major problems: René Benko's bankruptcy administrator, Andreas Grabenweger, obtained a preliminary injunction at the beginning of January 2026. Around 50 million euros are currently frozen.