Causa Benko: The fateful million dollar verdict

It is one of the explosive consequences of the collapse of the Benko empire: Nathalie Benko, Wife of the insolvent real estate mogul René Benko has to pay back two million euros to the insolvent estate.

This was decided by the Innsbruck regional court. Judge Stefanie Aichberger partially upheld a challenge brought by the insolvency administrator Andreas Grabenweger.

Of the originally requested 2.85 million euros, the 43-year-old housewife has to pay back two million euros plus four percent interest. The additional request for 850,000 euros was rejected. The verdict from mid-May is not yet legally binding. The deadline for appeal expires this week.

The background

At the center of the proceedings is a payment from January 27, 2023. On that day, René Benko transferred two million euros to his wife for the purpose of “equity for real estate investments”. It wasn’t a one-off act of generosity: since 2018, the entrepreneur, who was still celebrated as a billionaire at the time, had transferred a total of 15.5 million euros to his wife.

The reason: Nathalie Benko wanted to “build something of her own” alongside her husband, who was successful in the real estate business, as she testified in court.

The couple therefore agreed that every year at the turn of the year they would discuss how much money René Benko would make available to his wife for her real estate business. But it is precisely this agreement that could now be her downfall.

Not clarified

The court classified the payment as a “gratuitous disposition”, i.e. as a service without economic consideration – and therefore as a challengeable process under the Insolvency Code. Benko’s lawyer had argued that it was an agreed additional maintenance payment. After all, René Benko earned several million euros a year in his heyday.

The judge did not follow this argument. She referred to recent case law, according to which the acquisition of real estate or the provision of funds for it do not fall under the statutory maintenance entitlement. In addition, Nathalie Benko already received 10,500 euros in monthly maintenance from her husband – and all of the family’s living expenses were covered by René Benko or the Signa Group anyway. What was particularly explosive was that it was not possible to clarify where the two million euros actually went. Nathalie Benko was taciturn in court. She used the money “for her real estate company”.

Use unclear

“She claimed that she no longer remembered what exactly the amount was used for,” the judgment says. “It was also noteworthy that Nathalie Benko did not want to answer questions about this real estate company and the use of the money transferred by René Benko, as she responded very evasively to questions, so it seems doubtful whether she actually contributed the amount to a possible real estate company.”

The court also stated: “If you look at it realistically, it could be assumed that the whereabouts of such considerable sums can still be remembered after three years.” The judge obviously doubted the credibility of these statements.

Because it could not be determined that the money was used, Nathalie Benko has to pay back the full amount – even though the court certified that she had been “in good faith”.

No doubt

“The defendant’s good faith cannot be further doubted, as according to the facts established, she had no insight into René Benko’s professional and financial affairs and until the opening of insolvency proceedings over Signa Holding in November 2023, she had no indication or suspicion that her husband might have financial or professional difficulties,” the judgment continues.

Nathalie Benko heard about the Signa bankruptcy from the radio in November 2023. Because there was no discussion of business or financial matters in the Benko house, she credibly described to the court. Meanwhile, a query from KURIER to Nathalie Benko’s lawyer about a possible appeal against the verdict remained unanswered.