Austria’s central office for economic crimes and corruption (WKStA) has filed the first criminal indictment against real-estate magnate Rene Benko, accusing the 48-year-old founder of the collapsed Signa group of fraudulent bankruptcy. Prosecutors say that in the months before his personal insolvency Benko diverted a €360,000 advance rent payment for a family villa and gave €300,000 to relatives, actions that allegedly deprived creditors of €660,000. The case is part of a wider investigation into the downfall of Signa, once a €23 billion property empire that owned stakes in Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the KaDeWe luxury department store and the Hamburg Elbtower project. Investigators put potential losses across the Signa complex at about €300 million and are pursuing roughly a dozen additional suspects along with two corporate entities. Benko has been held in pre-trial detention since January and denies wrongdoing. If convicted, he faces one to ten years in prison. The indictment, lodged with the Innsbruck regional court, marks a significant escalation in Austria’s effort to recover funds following one of Europe’s highest-profile real-estate collapses.