Money: The millionaire heir who doesn't want the millions
Kai Viehof has renounced most of his inheritance, and he wants to give away most of the rest, too. About a man whose job is to sensibly give money away.
In a courtroom in Innsbruck, former business partners Hans Peter Haselsteiner and René Benko are facing off. The 49-year-old Benko claims he did not have any influence over Signa, the company he founded, and that Haselsteiner owes the company the money, not the other way around. Haselsteiner, an 82-year-old former billionaire and a prominent investor in Strabag, is now one of the richest men in Austria.
The prosecution is accusing Benko of serious fraud and fraudulent conversion, as well as causing damage to creditors, based on allegations that he knew his company was insolvent. Haselsteiner, a major investor in Signa, received nearly 5 million euros in dividends from the company in 2022, which he did not receive in cash but in the form of a 10 million euro dividend.
He claimed that Signa's management said they did not have the money at the time. Haselsteiner states that Benko assured him they would receive the money by the end of June 2024, but it never arrived. Benko is currently on house arrest with ankle shackles after being indicted on charges of serious fraud and fraudulent conversion.
Haselsteiner claims that Benko was living lavishly and had the ability to pay the money, despite his financial troubles.
Written by urgent.news from NZZ Wirtschaft's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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