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Photo: Sonja Wurtscheid / dpa

The verdict against the former managing director of the Frankfurter Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Awo), Jürgen Richter, for misuse of titles is legally binding. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (OLG) announced on Monday that his appeal had been rejected.

The defendant was sentenced by the district court in 2022 to a fine of 100 daily rates of 80 euros each for having an unauthorized doctoral title. The regional court rejected the appeal filed against this last year. The Higher Regional Court now also rejected the appeal lodged against this as “obviously unfounded”.

According to the regional court's findings, the convicted person had stated a doctorate to which he was not entitled over several years in several personnel documents as well as in the management contract with Awo and in emails. The judge was unable to provide relevant evidence that he had acquired his academic degree in the USA, according to the district court's previous ruling.

Jürgen Richter and his wife Hannelore are at the center of numerous court proceedings and extensive investigations into the Awo scandal in Hesse. As senior officials, they are said to have provided themselves, numerous acquaintances, local politicians and family members with greatly inflated salaries and fees, fictitious employment contracts, sometimes luxurious company vehicles and other benefits at the expense of the social association in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden.

more on the subject

  • Corruption proceedings against Frankfurt's former city hall boss: "You sausage will never become mayor" by Matthias Bartsch, Frankfurt am Main

  • Corruption trial against the mayor in Frankfurt am Main: How Peter Feldmann tries to get out of the affair By Matthias Bartsch

Awo receives millions in compensation

In one of the first verdicts in the comprehensive complex, the former Mayor of Frankfurt Peter Feldmann (formerly SPD) was convicted of accepting benefits. The court found that his then life partner and later wife got a job as a daycare center manager at Awo despite a lack of professional experience or experience in management positions. In return, she received a noticeably high salary, a company car and, for years, an extra paid mini-job, for which the then Awo boss Hannelore Richter clearly did not expect anything in return.

Frankfurt-based Awo has already been awarded millions in compensation to Jürgen Richter by a labor court. The main proceedings against the Richter couple, who are accused of fraud and infidelity, among other things, are scheduled to begin this year.

ala/dpa