Financial juggler René Benko wanted to sell a villa on Lake Garda to German football coach Julian Nagelsmann in August 2023.
Officially, René Benko has not held an operational leadership role within the Signa Group since 2013. In fact, until shortly before the collapse at the end of 2023, the busy financial juggler was a kind of ruler in the opaque thicket of more than a thousand companies. At least, that is not how the public prosecutor sees it. Even without official registration in the company register, the Tyrolean often controlled his conglomerate down to the smallest detail: as a micromanager, he even took care of the table arrangements at a summer party at Villa Ansaldi on Lake Garda.
Email at 1am: “Hello, you have a question…”
Now research shows that René Benko himself even worked as a broker. Namely in August 2023 at the hotel and villa project Eden Gardone, which he wanted to make attractive to the most famous German football coach: the current DFB national coach Julian Nagelsmann.
On Wednesday, August 16, 2023, Nagelsmann, who was still on leave from FC Bayern Munich at the time, contacted the real estate speculator shortly after 1 a.m.:
“Hello, one question: are you still selling a house on Lake Garda?”
Benko responds just a few hours later at 5:17 am:
“Good morning!
Yes, we still have two houses for sale in Villa Eden Gardone on Lake Garda
Please feel free to contact us if you would like to know more
Kind regards
Rene
On Saturday, August 17, 2013, Nagelsmann contacts us again.
“Subject: Houses
Rene, can you please send me some information?!”
Benko answers on Sunday 05.30 am:
“Come by tomorrow Monday and send me your mobile number.
Mine is: +43664xxxxxxx”
A few days later, on August 23, 2023, Nagelsmann receives an exposé of the villas that are available. Benko writes:
“Hi Julian!
Attached you will find a link to our homepage where you can view the individual villas.
Available for sale are Villa Sphere Ovest, Villa David Chipperfield Nord and Villa Sphere Nord.
Alternatively, there are also the Landmark Gardenhouses.
In the attachment you will also find a brochure for the best villa.
Please look through this and then call me.
greeting Rene
Benko’s role as a real estate agent on Lake Garda is explosive. For several reasons. Because at the time that German coach Nagelsmann became interested in the Villa Eden project and asked Benko, the property was still owned by Signa Holding. Benko then, on August 16, 2023, already had his hands full filling the gaps in his financially ailing Signa Group.
On August 17, 2023, Benko receives the rejection of a much-needed financial injection of 400 million from Korea. As is known, he then writes an email to his old CFO. There was only one word in it: “FUCK”. According to researchers, Benko and his accomplices could have recognized the beginning of the end there at the latest.
Shift to Liechtenstein
In any case, on August 18, 2023, Benko will pull out all the stops to have the luxury villas on Lake Garda moved from Signa Holding to his discreet foundation INGBE in Liechtenstein, which he officially no longer wants to have anything to do with. An exchange transaction worth 46 million euros will take place, in which the Public Prosecutor’s Office is now also interested in economics and corruption:
In return, Signa Holding receives Signa Prime shares from INGBE, the value of which is almost zero a few months later when it has to declare bankruptcy. However, Benko’s foundation made a nice change on August 18. From the perspective of the creditors in Signa’s billion-dollar insolvency, the exchange means a loss of millions.
Five days after this transaction, which has now been closely investigated by investigators, on August 23, 2023, Benko offered the villas on Lake Garda that had been moved to his foundation to the German star coach.
“Far too expensive”
Julian Nagelsmann, however, refused. Research by ‘Krone’ showed that the villas offered by Benko were ‘far too expensive’ for the current German national coach.
The four-bedroom, six-bathroom villa, designed by David Chipperfield, is currently listed by Sotheby’s in Italy for €12.55 million, while the one by architect Richard Meier is around €10.98 million.
Contact person since 2022
Direct contact between Julian Nagelsmann and René Benko has probably existed since January 2022. At that time, the then head coach of FC Bayern asked the Signa mastermind if he knew of a “great property” in the Kitzbühel or Wilder Kaiser region. Benko said no and pointed out that he did not travel in that area. Two years later, Nagelsmann struck in a house in Fieberbrunn in the Kitzbühel district.
In 2022, Nagelsmann was also interested in staying at the noble Chalet N in Oberlech. Benko was apparently the best booking officer there. At least for special guests. He wrote: “Hi Julian! If there are any free spots in Chalet N, just send me an email – I’ll see what’s possible.” In his case you would “Definitely find a long weekend.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
