Berger

"Berger has a lot of experience with entrepreneurial boundary crossers. At that time, he invested several million Euros in another young entrepreneur who often operated on the edge of legality and insolvency: Lars Windhorst and his Sapinda group, which later became known to a broader public as an investor in the soccer club Hertha BSC."

"Berger first invested 5 million euros, then soon doubled to 10 million euros at the next capital increase, later he invested further millions in the retail business and also in Signa Development, which is involved in project business. A medium two-digit million amount soon accumulates. Every year there's a 6 percent return on invested capital, while at the same time the value of the shares increases dramatically. Initially costing Berger about 20 euros each, they are worth over 80 euros just under ten years later, at least on paper."

"At least once, he was a guest with other partners in the villas that Benko had built above Lake Garda – really, to sell them at a high price. Benko had Berger picked up by helicopter for a working meeting of the advisory board in the "Villa Eden" at Gardone Riviera on the western shore of the lake that was named by Benko."

"It's only when it's too late that Berger, like most investors, realizes that the trading business is primarily intended to contribute to the real estate business. He receives his Signa shares not from a capital increase, but directly from Benko himself. Money that flows into the private sphere of the real estate juggler who gradually sells shares to further investors, thus increasing his personal wealth. The zero-interest phase plays into Benko's hands, the fundraising runs almost like the mechanism of an automatic watch. Everywhere, large institutional investors are looking for new investment opportunities, such as the RAG Foundation from the Ruhr area, founded to finance the perpetual burdens of coal mining in Germany, ultimately to save the Ruhr area from collapse."