Ex-Chrysler Builder Owner Handed Two Year Insolvency Fraud Jail Term

Rene Benko, who built a $27 billion global property empire that spanned New York’s Chrysler Building to London’s Selfridges department store, was sentenced to two years in prison by an Austrian court for insolvency fraud on Wednesday.

Two years after his firm’s spectacular downfall, the Innsbruck court said it found Benko guilty of one count of insolvency fraud for gifting €300,000 ($348,920) to his mother in 2023. He was acquitted of a second charge relating to an alleged advance payment of about €360,000, the court said.