New Investigation

Benko Allegedly Falsified His Own Employment Contract

At the scene of the trial: René Benko during a trial in Innsbruck (2025)(Bild: APA/BARBARA GINDL)

New revelations keep emerging in the Signa case: According to an investigation by the “Krone,” the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) has now launched another investigation against René Benko. The Signa founder is alleged to have “falsified” his own employment contract.

On January 23, 2025, the man who was once reportedly the third-richest Austrian according to the Forbes list was arrested in his Innsbruck office at the Kaufhaus Tyrol. The following day, the court ordered him to be held in pretrial detention. It soon became clear that the Signa case involving its founder, René Benko, is not only about the largest bankruptcy in post-war European history—with a total debt of around 30 billion euros—but also, apparently, about an alleged pyramid scheme that is unprecedented, even in the recent past.

Benko and his associates deny all allegations; the presumption of innocence applies. The next trial against the record-breaking bankrupt will take place on September 22 and 23 in Innsbruck, where the case involving the advance rent payment of 360,000 euros for a villa on Innsbruck’s Hungerburg and the associated suspicion of fraudulent bankruptcy will once again be heard. 

In early July, the Supreme Court (OGH) overturned a partial acquittal in the fraudulent bankruptcy proceedings and remanded the case to the Regional Court for a retrial—as we reported.