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Rene Benko

Photo: Marcel Kusch / dpa

According to information from SPIEGEL, Signa founder René Benko filed for personal bankruptcy on his own initiative on Wednesday.

Benko's lawyer confirmed this.

Benko had assumed various liabilities and guarantees, so that by honoring one of these claims he would no longer have been able to service others, it was said.

This was the reason for the self-application.

The Austrian “Kronen Zeitung” first reported on the application for personal bankruptcy, citing court circles.

With this step, Benko appears to have forestalled an insolvency notice from a court in Innsbruck.

Previously, the Austrian Finanzprokuratur, the law firm of the Republic of Austria subordinate to the Ministry of Finance, had apparently pushed Benko into a corner by filing for insolvency against Benko.

She demanded around two million euros in income taxes back from him.

At the same time, Benko had promised a total of three million euros to the insolvent Signa Holding, under which his real estate group is bundled, but one million of which had not yet been paid.

Hundreds of Signa subsidiaries' creditors are now demanding billions of euros from the insolvent companies with which Benko built his real estate empire.

According to restructuring administrator Norbert Abel, claims totaling around 6.3 billion euros were made at Signa Prime, in which the real estate empire's assets are bundled.

According to the creditor protection association KSV 1870, creditors in the Signa Development Selection are demanding a total of around 2.2 billion euros.

The liquidity situation in the private foundations that are attributable to Benko's family no longer looked plentiful recently.

Nevertheless, investors are now wondering where the money that had also gone to Benko's privacy over the years disappeared.

According to the Austrian magazine "Der Standard", Benko's current application is, from a strict legal perspective, not a case of personal insolvency, as the relevant district court would have been responsible for this.

Because in this case Benko is liable as a sole proprietor with all of his assets, there is hardly any difference in the practical handling of the insolvency proceedings.

Either way, Benko is now threatened with the liquidation of his private assets.

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