After almost 90 days of trial, the verdict in the trial of the former boss of the bankrupt gold trader PIM: The 51-year-old is sentenced to more than six years in prison for fraud, among other things. He is said to have concluded supply contracts with customers that he ultimately did not comply with.
The former managing director of the insolvent gold dealer PIM has been sentenced to six years and nine months in prison by the Darmstadt Regional Court. In its verdict, the chamber considered the allegations of fraud and intentional money laundering against the 51-year-old to be proven.
Prosecutors had asked for a total of seven and a half years in prison, while the defense had asked for five years and nine months. The verdict is not yet legally binding. Both sides first want to check whether they will appeal.
PIM Gold GmbH in Heusenstamm is said to have concluded supply contracts with customers including bonus promises for gold from 2016 to September 2019, but then failed to fulfill them. Interest is said to have been paid out with the money of newly recruited customers according to a kind of pyramid scheme.
The 51-year-old ex-managing director has been in custody for more than three years. The process started in 2017 with a former employee who fell out with the accused and filed a complaint. In September 2019, an arrest warrant against the managing director was executed and the company went bankrupt. The process took nearly 90 days of trial over two years. According to the defense, almost 200 witnesses were heard in the proceedings surrounding the insolvent gold dealer.
