According to the “Tiroler Tageszeitung”, the founder of the largely insolvent Signa conglomerate, Rene Benko, who is himself a privately bankrupt entrepreneur, only stated meager assets in his bankruptcy proceedings. He is now dependent on his mother’s help. According to “TT”, this emerges from the insolvency administrator’s report, which the newspaper quotes from.
According to this, Benko earned 60,480 euros gross per month as an “employee” of Signa Holding until November 2023 and received an annual bonus of 2.5 percent of Signa Holding’s pre-tax results, which made profits of up to one billion euros. The fallen entrepreneur also received 200,000 to 300,000 euros in fees annually through consulting contracts with Signa companies. As was already announced in the U-Committee, Benko received a salary of 29 million euros in 2019 alone.
According to the “TT” report, Benko currently stated that he earned 3,700 euros a month as an employee of two of his companies. He could “only make a living through the support of his family (especially his mother).” According to the insolvency administrator’s report, bank accounts have “relatively small amounts” of balances.
Where did the assets go?
The list of assets submitted by Benko is still being examined. According to the land and commercial register, he has neither properties nor investments in Austria. The one at the private jet company is not valuable. In addition, he is not a beneficiary of the Laura Private Foundation and the Benko Family Private Foundation.
According to the newspaper report, no documents are yet available for two other foundations in Liechtenstein. The fact that he uses the villa in Innsbruck-Igls, which is attributable to the Laura Private Foundation, is derived from the pension entitlement of his wife and children as foundation beneficiaries.
According to “TT”, insiders are wondering where the billionaire’s assets have gone. The daily newspaper “Österreich” also speculates about this in part, citing people familiar with the matter: Although the Signa founder Benko declared his own personal bankruptcy as an entrepreneur after the billion-dollar bankruptcy of Signa companies, he and his family would therefore continue to do so wallow in luxury. Wife Nathalie attends exclusive riding tournaments, and the daughters don’t have to miss out on the luxury of horses and the like. The horse hobby would cost “a high five-figure amount” per month, said an insider according to “Austria”, and people would travel with a personal trainer.
