Another Guilty Verdict for René Benko: 30 Months in Prison in the Tyrolean Villa Trial
In the criminal proceedings surrounding the collapse of the Signa empire, the Innsbruck Regional Court has handed down another verdict: The 49-year-old Signa founder René Benko was sentenced to 30 months (two and a half years) of unconditional imprisonment for fraudulent bankruptcy. Benko, who has been in pretrial detention since early 2025, continued to maintain his innocence in court.
Rene Benko's mansion in Innsbruck. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / TheTokl / CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
The focus of the reopened proceedings was an advance rent payment of approximately 360,000 euros for a luxury villa in the Hungerburg district of Innsbruck. The court found it proven that the contract was concluded in the fall of 2023—at a time when the Signa Group was already beginning to falter—without any objective necessity.
The presiding judge of the lay judges’ panel, Judge Norbert Hofer, justified the decision by stating that while the contractual arrangement had primarily been chosen to secure housing for the Benko family, Benko had nevertheless “knowingly accepted that creditors would suffer harm.” However, the defendant was acquitted of another charge—that of harming creditors’ interests through the prepayment of operating costs.
Verdict Not Final, Sentence Increased
The hearing was a continuation of a trial from October 2025. At that time, Benko had been sentenced to two years in prison for an impermissible gift of 300,000 euros to his mother, a ruling that the Supreme Court (OGH) upheld in the summer. However, the OGH overturned the acquittal regarding the advance payment for the villa’s rent and remanded the case to the Innsbruck Regional Court.
With the new conviction, the total length of the unconditional prison sentence increases by six months to a total of 30 months. The court considered Benko’s previous clean record a mitigating factor; however, the repeated nature of the offenses and the fact that the amount of damage exceeded the threshold for criminal liability were considered aggravating factors. The current ruling regarding the rent arrangement and the severity of the sentence is not yet final.
Benko Breaks His Silence and Attacks the Prosecution
For the first time in the criminal proceedings surrounding the Signa insolvency, Benko took the opportunity to make a more detailed personal statement, as reported by ORF. He stated that as late as the end of 2023, he still firmly believed the restructuring would succeed: “At that time, I paid another two or three million euros into the Signa Group. I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t been convinced of it.”
Benko defended the terms of the lease as in line with market conditions. He also leveled sharp criticism at the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA), accusing it of relying on “allegations contrary to the case file.” He did not answer any questions from the prosecution afterward.
Media Turnout Declining – Further Proceedings Underway
Compared to earlier court dates, public interest was noticeably lower. While around 80 journalists were present at the first trial in the fall of 2025, only about 20 media representatives were accredited this time.
The current guilty verdict is only one phase in the legal investigation into the Signa collapse, which is considered one of the largest insolvency cases in European economic history. Extensive investigations are still ongoing against René Benko and other former executives of the group in several separate cases.