Explosive protocols: When Signa’s hat started to burn

It had now been four years since the first signs of Signa’s imbalance became apparent. It was the Signa Christmas party in December 2022 when Signa managers Franz H. and Bernhard J. were a little taken aback because board member Timo H. announced on stage that every Signa Group employee would receive a Corona bonus of 3,000 euros. H. and J. knew at this point that the situation was more than tense: “We didn’t even know how we were going to pay normal salaries.”

More warning signs

This scene is recorded in a 142-page interim report from Soko Signa (WKStA), for which the investigators evaluated 220 interviews with Signa organs, managers and employees as well as other witnesses.

The first to raise the alarm was the chief accountant of Signa Holding, who already recognized an acute need for finance “towards the summer of 2022”. What startled him: A loan from an investor for 200 million euros with a term of three weeks cost a fee of five million euros. That corresponded to an annual interest rate of more than 70 percent. The accountant wants to confront Benko about it. Benko is said to have replied: “We will bring in the money in the retail sector many times over.” The latter could not remember any conversation in this regard.

Another alarm signal: Signa Holding’s dividend for the 2021 financial year of 250 million euros was not paid out – officially due to an “economic decision” given the market situation. In fact, the files show, the necessary liquidity simply wasn’t available.

Scrapped all the money together

From March 2023 onwards, signs of imbalance increased. Witness Karin W. reports “information over the radio that bills were no longer being paid.” Project manager Wilhelm H. also received information from business partners in the spring of 2023 “that payments had not been made”. When he exchanged ideas with colleagues, he discovered: “The problem also existed with other objects.”

In the second quarter of 2023, the smoldering fire turned into a wildfire: the finance teams at Signa Prime and Signa Development are said to have scraped together funds from various accounts on behalf of CFO Manuel P. and “directed them upwards”. Balance inquiries of all Signa accounts were carried out weekly. There was a “systematic clearing out of all available resources”. Initially, small amounts were deducted from free accounts, and later larger amounts were deducted from blocked accounts.

The Korean disaster

Accountant Mario T. also observed that from the first half of 2023, “when bank interest was due at the end of the quarter, Signa properties or investments were sold to pay the interest”.

In August 2023, invoices were no longer paid, and this affected “several companies, not just Signa Prime Selection”.

Then on August 17, 2023, the big shock hit the Signa management hard: a Korean pension fund canceled an already signed financing of Signa Holding for 400 million euros. The Korean regulatory authority had banned another pension fund with German real estate from further investing in European real estate after losses. The Signa supervisory board is said to have only found out about the failure of the financing six weeks later.

Bankruptcies worth billions

Manuel P., former board member of Signa Prime Selection (SPS) and Signa Development Selection SDS), later described the situation soberly: “Financing 400 million in other ways in the environment at the time was difficult and unfortunately we were not able to do so afterwards. Which ultimately led to the insolvency of SPS.” In September 2023, the crisis could no longer be concealed. Credit cards were blocked, waves of layoffs rolled through the corporate headquarters, and salary payments were put at risk.

On October 27, 2023, Signa Sports United filed for bankruptcy in Germany. On November 29, 2023, Signa Holding filed for insolvency at the Vienna Commercial Court. A month later, the SPS and SDS followed it into bankruptcy.

Back in the Innsbruck regional court: Signa founder René Benko has been in custody since January 24, 2025. In the first criminal trial he was sentenced to two years’ unconditional imprisonment for fraudulent Krida, but he was acquitted on one count. The Supreme Court (OGH) confirmed the conviction for a gift to mother Ingeborg Benko. However, the OGH overturned the partial acquittal regarding the advance payment of rent for a villa. The OGH saw “no equivalent value” for the creditors in the advance payment. According to the Supreme Court, the reduction in assets occurred with the advance payment. In addition, the landlady did not ask for any advance payment for four years – the suggestion came from Benko himself.

In the second round of the trial, the Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) is now again accusing Benko of withholding money from his creditors with the advance rent payment (360,000 euros) in the wake of the impending insolvency.

Acquittal demanded

“We will continue to plead for acquittal,” says Benko’s top defense attorney Norbert Wess to KURIER. He considers the previous punishment for giving it to his mother to be “too high”. However, if Benko is convicted in both cases, he will now face a higher penalty because of the alleged damage to Krida totaling 660,000 euros. The penalty range is one to ten years in prison.