An Innsbruck court added two years to René Benko’s prison term Thursday, convicting him of aggravated fraud over a guarantee that left a foundation linked to an Austrian industrialist with a €5 million loss.
Added to a final 30-month term imposed Sept. 22, 2026, the latest penalty brings Benko’s combined sentence to four years and six months. The foundation is associated with Austrian industrialist Hans Peter Haselsteiner.
Judges found Benko gave the guarantee on Nov. 6, 2023, promising repayment by June 30, 2024. The deadline passed without payment, the court said.
The court said Benko’s guarantee induced the foundation to transfer about €3.3 million to SIGNA Holding GmbH and forgo recovery of another €1.7 million, causing about €5 million in total losses. The verdict said SIGNA Holding and a second company benefited from the arrangement, while the foundation bore the cost. The total combines a cash transfer with an amount the foundation did not seek to recover; it was not a single €5 million payment.
Benko denied fraud. His defense argued the payment settled an obligation from an earlier share purchase, but the court rejected that explanation. Reuters and ORF reported that the money was sought during efforts to keep sporting goods retailer SportScheck operating.
The court acquitted Benko of a separate charge alleging that he concealed an €80,000 hunting rifle from creditors. It said he remains in pretrial detention at home under electronic monitoring.
The guarantee preceded the Vienna Commercial Court’s opening of insolvency proceedings for SIGNA Holding on Nov. 29, 2023, by less than a month. Those proceedings became bankruptcy proceedings on April 11, 2024. Creditors had filed about €8.613 billion in claims by Jan. 29, 2024, KSV1870, an Austrian creditor association, said; that figure is not a final debt total.
The Landesgericht Innsbruck said the Nov. 5 verdict is not final. Neither Benko nor prosecutors had said whether they would appeal, according to the court.
