Austrian former property billionaire Rene Benko has filed an appeal against his conviction last week for insolvency-related fraud and the two-year prison sentence it incurred, his lawyer said on Monday, Reuters reported. The case stemmed from a sweeping investigation into crimes prosecutors suspect were committed in connection with the collapse beginning in 2023 of Benko's real estate group Signa, Austria's biggest bankruptcy since World War II.

An Austrian court convicted former property billionaire Rene Benko of insolvency-related fraud on Wednesday in his first criminal trial linked to the collapse of his real estate group Signa, sentencing him to two years in prison, Reuters reported. The case stems from a sweeping investigation into crimes prosecutors suspect were committed in connection with Signa's collapse starting in 2023, which was the biggest postwar bankruptcy in Austria and burnt investors across Europe, including blue-chip companies in Germany and Switzerland.

Signa Holding, the insolvent entity at the top of Austrian ex-billionaire Rene Benko's fallen property empire Signa, faces 8.35 billion euros ($9.8 billion) in claims by creditors, of which it disputes 5.6 billion, its administrator said on Friday, Reuters reported. Signa became the biggest casualty of Europe's property downturn when parts of the group's elaborate network of companies filed for insolvency in late 2023.

The Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien ceased operations at its Freyung location on August 21, 2025, after more than four decades. The closure is related to the economic consequences of the Signa insolvency, which made the institution's operations impossible, Aviation.direct reported. The last exhibition at the venerable venue, Mensch Berlin, was a popular success. The show featured more than 120 works of art from the post-war German period and the period of reunification. Thousands of visitors took the opportunity to visit the exhibition and bid farewell to the Kunstforum.

Austrian prosecutors said on Tuesday they were bringing an insolvency-related fraud case against the former billionaire founder of the collapsed Signa property group, Rene Benko, Reuters reported. Benko has been in custody for more than five months as the Central Prosecutors' Office for Economic Crimes and Corruption (WKStA) carries out a wide-ranging investigation into a range of offences including several counts of fraud he and other unnamed people are suspected of.

The insolvent Austrian lingerie manufacturer Palmers Textil AG is being taken over by the Danish company Change of Scandinavia, DPA International reported. The investor's entry secures the continuation of Palmers, a spokesman for the company announced on Monday. The long-established Austrian company declared itself insolvent in February. Change of Scandinavia primarily produces and sells women's underwear under the Change Lingerie fashion brand. Creditors can now expect to receive a total of 20% of their claims in four payments within two years, according to the statement.

Austrian anti-corruption and economic crime prosecutors have wrapped up their initial investigation into the collapse of the Signa property empire and filed a report so that a decision on potential prosecutions can be made, they said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. In a statement, they said there were four new strands, including an investigation into Signa founder Rene Benko and persons unknown on suspicion of favourable treatment to a creditor over a roughly 15 million euro ($17.4 million) repayment relating to a loan to Signa Prime at a time when that Signa unit was insolvent.

The European Commission has reprimanded Austria and Romania for breaking European Union limits on government spending — as Austria deals with the financial fall-out of months of political deadlock and Romania's long-running fiscal problems drag on, Politico reported. Under EU fiscal rules, a country's deficit — the difference between a government’s revenues and expenditures — cannot exceed 3 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Both countries went through a long period of political crisis this year. But their situations are very different.

Helaba and other German lenders have paid millions of euros in recent weeks to settle claims by the administrator of former real estate tycoon René Benko’s Signa Prime Selection AG, the Luxembourg Times reported. Helaba paid €26 million at the end of May as part of an out-of court settlement, Signa Prime’s insolvency administrator said in a report to creditors dated Monday. Other payments include €3 million received from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG and €2.1 million from Bayerische Landesbank.