Austrian tycoon Rene Benko sentenced to 2 years in prison for fraud

Austrian businessman Rene Benko, who suffered a major fall from grace after his real estate empire, Signa Holding, went bust, was handed two more years in prison. Rene Benko, an Austrian businessman whose legacy as a property tycoon collapsed with the fall of his real estate empire Signa Holding three years ago, was sentenced to two more years in prison on Thursday. The Innsbruck Regional Court found Beko guilty of defrauding €5 million from the private foundation of Austrian industrialist Hans Peter Haselsteiner.

The payment from Haselsteiner arrived just weeks before Signa Holding declared insolvency. It was the third criminal proceeding against Banko, coming after two earlier convictions. He was sentenced in the first case in October 2025 on charges of insolvency-related fraud.

In September 2026, he received a 30-month term for harming creditors. The new sentence against Benko, 49, comes just ‌three weeks ⁠after ⁠he was released to house arrest to serve out a previous conviction.