kitzVenture trial

Supreme Court overturns guilty verdict against company founder

Symbol photo(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

A turning point in the court case surrounding the insolvent investment company kitzVenture GmbH, based in Kitzbühel: after company founder Patrick Landrock was sentenced to three and a half years' unconditional imprisonment - not legally binding - for serious fraud and feigning the ability and willingness of kitzVenture to pay, the Supreme Court has now overturned the conviction. The case must therefore be retried.

A trial date has not yet been set. The founder and managing director of kitzVenture had lodged an appeal for annulment against the first-instance verdict. In response to an APA inquiry, Supreme Court spokesperson Frederick Lendl stated the reason for the annulment as being that, according to the decision of the competent senate of the Supreme Court, the "findings on a possible statute of limitations" of the alleged offense were lacking in the first instance. Therefore, the case would now have to be retried.

Acquitted of the accusation of investor fraud
Landrock was and is accused of having commissioned advertising placements worth over 658,000 euros from media companies in 2016/2017 under a pseudonym, pretending to be willing and able to pay, but not having paid for them. On September 25, 2023, however, both the first accused former managing director and Landrock were acquitted of the charge of investor fraud relating to startup investments with an alleged loss of 176,000 euros.

Lawyer Norbert Wess, whose law firm took over legal representation in the appeal proceedings at the end of 2023, also pointed out to APA that his client had already been legally acquitted on three of the four charges in the case and that these acquittals had not been contested. With regard to the upcoming retrial, Wess expressed confidence in a written statement that "the (last) fact on which the conviction - overturned by the Supreme Court - was based will also be clarified and (also) brought to a positive conclusion for Patrick Landrock."