Gold bars and cash

Benko Foundation: Millions Found in Safe Deposit Boxes

A brilliant safeguard? René Benko founded the Ingbe Foundation in 2014, one year after a criminal conviction.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA Österreich Bild/Barbara Gindl, stock.adobe.com)

The Benkos’ Ingbe Foundation, based in Liechtenstein, had stashed gold bars worth around 14 million euros, as well as one million dollars and one million Swiss francs in cash, at a bank. Now, two safe deposit boxes have been opened in the presence of a notary. The “Krone” knows the background.

The foundation’s board members and the Benko family’s asset managers are coming under increasing pressure. First, the Benko Family Private Foundation went bankrupt. Following the bankruptcy of the Laura Private Foundation, which had to be filed with the Innsbruck Regional Court on March 12, 2026, two asset havens currently remain in the discreet Principality of Liechtenstein: the Arual Foundation (which, when read backward, also stands for “Laura”) and the Ingbe Foundation (named after Benko’s mother, Ingeborg Benko). But even there, those responsible are now under close scrutiny by insolvency administrators and lawyers who still hope for potential returns for Signa and Benko’s creditors. Officially, as is well known, the billionaire bankrupt René Benko was merely a founder; the beneficiaries are members of the family, foremost among them his mother, whom insiders have for years regarded as a “straw mother” for her son, who has fallen into bankruptcy.

Thousands of gold bars
Last week, according to “Krone” reports, the insolvency court and creditor protection associations received an interesting piece of mail ...