The Benko family’s many safes: an ex-bodyguard unpacked

“In the course of the surveillance measures, we were very close to René Benko. We were able to listen to phone calls and conversations, ”said Jens E.. The officials were heard when E. reported on the transport of a safe. Two safes are said to have stood in an adjoining room in the Benko family’s underground car park in Innsbruck-Igls. In November or December 2023, a certain L. is said to have shipped a 1.5 meter high safe from the villa into a panel van with the help of a personal advocate.

The safe is then said to have been transported to the house of an aunt and an uncle of Benko’s wife in a place in the Tyrolean Oberland, a short drive hour from Innsbruck.

“For me it had made the impression that valuables were stored in the safe and they were brought away,” said the security employee.

A Ferrari F40 and a painting by Picasso are also said to have been removed from the villa shortly before the house search at the end of June 2024. The Ferrari is said to have reappeared two months after the raid, but the painting may have been sold.

High -priced watches

Jens E. also reports on another safe from Benko, which is said to have been shipped to the building of the Tyrol department store in Innsbrucker Maria-Theresia-Straße 31. Where the Signa has its headquarters.

“A personal advocate told me that a safe was brought there too,” said the bodyguard. Other camps in Innsbruck and Völs also spoke in detail. In Völs, motorcycles, books and furnishings are to be stored in particular.

In any case, the content of the safe among the relatives of Benko’s wife René Benko has caught the custody because high-priced watches were deposited in the safe, whose existence Benko is said to have kept secret from his mass manager.

On January 23, 2025, further household searches took place, including at the place of residence of Aunt and Uncle by Natalie Benko. The content of the safe was ensured: 120,000 euros in cash, jewelry and watches. In the course of the raid, uncle and aunt were also interrogated by the investigators. And the couple told a new story when it comes to the safe.

When asked by the investigators whether “Benkos has ever delivered a safe,” said the uncle: “This was not the case.” The story of the two relatives goes as follows: Benko’s wife asked if they personally object or documents should be kept in the house.

Bought safe?

“She didn’t want anyone to know that she would store things with us,” said the uncle. In the end, they were asked by Benko’s wife to buy a safe. You bought this from E. in Innsbruck. The safe was then set up in a “bunker room” in the house of relatives, anchored and disguised by the uncle with boxes so that it is not immediately visible.

“I also believe that René Benko didn’t know about it,” said the aunt. “Likewise, none of the Securities was known that this safe was purchased and put up with us.” Later, René Benko was said to have known about the safe. “The watches obviously belong to the René,” said the aunt.

In the end, observers remain unclear where the two safes were put to the fact that the former bodyguard had reported – or he has tied up a bear to the officials.