OGH hears case on Benko's conviction for fraudulent bankruptcy

If the acquittal were overturned, the Innsbruck Regional Court would have to retry the case on that particular charge. The second charge concerns a rent prepayment of 360,000 euros for a villa in the Innsbruck district of Hungerburg. The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA), in turn, is appealing the acquittal on the second charge. The presumption of innocence applies.

Recommendation of the General Prosecutor's Office

In December 2025, Benko also received a 15-month suspended sentence in a second case, likewise for fraudulent bankruptcy. That verdict is also not final, following appeals filed by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) and the defense. In mid-June 2026, the WKStA filed a third indictment against Benko, this time for aggravated fraud and fraudulent bankruptcy.

Benko's defense attorney Norbert Wess is fighting his client's conviction. The Signa founder denies all charges. In an ORF interview, Benko said: "Das ist wahrlich so, ich war im letzten Schuljahr, im Maturajahr, so wenig in der Schule, dass ich dann aufgrund der vielen Fehlstunden nicht mehr zur Matura zugelassen wurde". Regarding his daily routine, he also explained that he gets up at 4:30 a.m. every day and works until shortly before midnight.

From the attic to an empire

Hailing from humble circumstances and without a school diploma, the Tyrolean managed to become one of Austria's richest entrepreneurs. As early as the mid-1990s, when he was 17, he organized the conversion of attic spaces in prime downtown locations in Innsbruck for a friend who was a local construction entrepreneur. In 2001, Karl Kovarik, heir to the Stroh gas station fortune, invested a sum in the double-digit millions in Benko's company. With Kovarik's money, Signa Holding grew into one of Austria's largest real estate companies.

Benko's first big coup came in 2004 with the takeover of the Tyrol department store in Innsbruck. In 2012, together with the Israeli diamond dealer Beny Steinmetz, he acquired the famous Kaufhaus des Westens, the KaDeWe, in Berlin. In Austria, Benko briefly entered the furniture retail sector with Kika/Leiner and acquired stakes in the "Kronen Zeitung" and "Kurier". The "Tyrolean of the Year 2011" was not without controversy.

Members of Signa's supervisory bodies included former SPÖ Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, Wüstenrot chief and former FPÖ Vice Chancellor Susanne Riess-Hahn, former Bank Austria-Creditanstalt chief Karl Samstag, former RBI chief Karl Sevelda, the French businessman Robert Peugeot, and RAG foundation CFO Jürgen-Johann Rupp. Former ÖBAG chief Thomas Schmid accused Benko of offering him a job at Signa in exchange for his influence in resolving tax matters worth millions.

Investigations and insolvency

The WKStA is conducting investigations with what are now 17 separate strands of facts. In autumn 2022, the authority searched the Signa Group. In 2023, the EU banking watchdog conducted a special audit of bank loans to the Signa Group. In November 2023, the parent holding company Signa Holding filed for insolvency. In the same month, Benko announced his withdrawal from the chairmanship of the advisory board of Signa Holding.

The Signa empire encompassed over 1,000 intertwined companies, subsidiaries, and individual properties. Named in the report are, among others, the Goldenes Quartier with the Park Hyatt hotel in Vienna, the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien, the Österreichische Postsparkasse designed by Otto Wagner, the Deutsche Börse building in Eschborn, the Hotel Bauer Palazzo in Venice, the Chrysler Building in New York, Selfridges in London, the Globus department store in Switzerland, and the Elbtower in Hamburg.

After Benko also absorbed Karstadt rival Kaufhof in 2019, he merged the two department stores under the umbrella of "Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH". Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof then ran into payment difficulties, went through two protective shield proceedings, had to close locations and lay off thousands of employees. Construction of the Elbtower in Hamburg and the Lamarr department store on Vienna's Mariahilfer Straße was halted. A trustee-led restructuring plan for Signa Prime Selection AG failed in autumn 2024.

Past conviction and arrest

The Signa founder became delinquent, in his own words, already at a young age. Former classmates told the Falter newspaper about gold chains and a leased Ferrari. As early as 2012, Benko had been convicted in a final ruling in an Italian tax case for attempted "verbotene Intervention" and sentenced to a twelve-month suspended prison term. Afterwards, he officially withdrew from the management of Signa but in practice remained the central decision-maker.

In January 2025, Benko filed for personal insolvency. According to KSV1870, his liabilities amounted to 2.43 billion euros, placing him second among the seven largest Austrian insolvencies of 2024. On January 23, 2025, he was arrested in Innsbruck on suspicion of risk of suppression of evidence and risk of commission of an offense, and has been in pre-trial detention since then. In the specific charge, Benko is alleged to have given his mother 300,000 euros as a gift and thereby withheld these assets from his creditors.

Outlook on the decision

The father of several children, who married a former model, has so far always rejected all charges. Today's OGH proceedings concern exclusively the first bankruptcy verdict from October 2025; the other cases proceed independently.

A decision by the Supreme Court justices is still expected on Thursday. Should the OGH follow the General Prosecutor's proposal, Benko's conviction would be confirmed and the partial acquittal overturned, which would trigger a new trial before the Innsbruck Regional Court on the affected charge.