Investor crime story Sun Contracting: fictitious stock purchases, millions collected

“When the contract was concluded on September 5, 2018, the accused were aware that the payment of this liability of Sun Contracting AG in the amount of six million euros depended on the success of the business intermediaries,” the arrest order states. “The amount of six million euros could only be paid by attracting enough investor money.”

Allegations denied

Martin H., Michael K., and Christian S. are said to have known “that they were misusing their authority to dispose of the assets of Sun Contracting AG and they are said to have considered it seriously possible and accepted that this would cause the company damage amounting to 5,999,999 euros.”

GW Energie Holding was later renamed Sun Contracting Austria GmbH. Its mother is Sun Contracting AG in Liechtenstein. Insolvency proceedings were opened for both companies. According to reports, the accused deny the allegations. Johannes Zink, lawyer for Christian S., told KURIER on Monday: “The allegations have no basis whatsoever.”

WKStA spokesman Martin Ortner confirmed that pre-trial detention was requested for the trio on Tuesday.

Dubious deals

At the end of 2021, the Green Finance/Sun Contracting-Zampanos are said to have decided to sell Sun Contracting shares to small investors for 6 euros due to accounting problems. Previously, 9 million shares had been sold to Sun Contracting for one cent per “security” in order to be able to offer shares to customers in the first place. OMIT AG took over the distribution of the shares.

“In addition, however, OMIT AG was abused by Martin H., Michael K. and Christian S. as a vehicle to implement the crime plan (…) and to allow 25 percent of customer money collected from the share sales to flow to the “old shareholders,” claims the WKStA. But the total extent of these asset outflows via OMIT has not yet been determined.

In any case, shares worth 9.5 million Swiss francs are said to have been sold to small investors by August 4, 2023. According to the WKStA, at least another 1.432 million euros are said to have flowed to five Sun Contracting makers.

“In order to fabricate a legal reason for the outflow of assets, the defendants created a series of share purchase agreements in 2023 and 2024, dated them back to October 2022 and resorted to the tried-and-tested concept of intervening themselves and reselling them at a higher price – in two tranches of 1.25 euros to 1.70 and 2.50 to 3.40 euros per share,” said the WKStA. “Through the defendants’ fictitious share purchase agreement with OMIT AG, Sun Contracting purchased the shares it already owned for a second time.”

High-risk subordinated loans

As can be seen from an advertisement by investor lawyer Jörg Zarbl for the R. couple, Green Finance/Sun Contracting primarily appealed to hundreds of savers who had taken out life insurance. The consultants informed them that “this is a very bad disposition.”

“It would therefore be advisable for asset provision to terminate the insurance as quickly as possible and make a safe investment in green finance and thereby generate a return with a fixed interest rate of three percent and, from 2026, eight percent,” the advertisement says. The “Euro Bonds” from Sun Contracting are a better product. “The risk would roughly correspond to the risk of a building savings contract,” the advertisement claimed. “With this disposition, people invest in the sun, with the number of sunny days becoming more and more and money being earned with every sunrise.”

The R. couple got out of life insurance and switched to Sun Contracting “trusting the advisors’ information that they were investing in an investment model that was absolutely safe.” Not knowing that it is a high-risk subordinated loan. Not knowing that around 25 percent is lost in sales commissions. The R. couple suffered around 60,000 euros in damage.