Former property tycoon Benko is under house arrest and wearing an electronic tag

One hour of free time a day, three at the weekend. Visits from family members are permitted; there are no restrictions on seeing his chosen solicitor; he has been granted conditional release to social services, but is strictly forbidden from making contact, even indirectly, with ‘persons specifically involved in the Signa group or the Ingbe Foundation’, which is officially run by his mother.
These are the conditions that the Innsbruck Court has set out in writing, granting the 49-year-old former property magnate René Benko the opportunity to leave the prison in the Tyrolean capital, where he had been detained for 20 months following the collapse of the Signa Group, of which he was the head, to house arrest with an electronic tag in a 60-metre flat rented in an upmarket neighbourhood of Innsbruck.

“At home, Benko will have the opportunity to prepare thoroughly for the upcoming trial and to address the other charges that have emerged during the investigation in a well-informed manner,” said Norbert Wess, the defence lawyer for the former property magnate. However, the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Crimes and Corruption is still investigating Benko in connection with a further 12 inquiries linked to the Signa mega-scandal. In November, Benko is due to appear in court again on charges of aggravated fraud and another strand of alleged misappropriation of assets from creditors.
There are currently 1,863 people in pre-trial detention in Austria: only one other defendant, apart from Benko, is under house arrest with an electronic tag.

In two separate trials, the Tyrolean was convicted in Innsbruck in connection with the Signa Group’s billion-euro collapse. According to Forbes, the Austrian’s net worth in the summer of 2023, before the fall of the ‘King Midas’, stood at 5.5 billion euros. The Trento Public Prosecutor’s Office also conducted a lengthy investigation into some of the Austrian’s property deals in northern Italia.