Darmstadt (dpa/lhe) - According to the defense, almost 90 days of the process in two years and almost 200 witnesses are the balance sheet in the proceedings for the insolvent gold dealer PIM. There were also 28 so-called self-readings of documents to simplify the procedure with around 7,000 pages, said lawyer Stefanie Schott of the German Press Agency. The files concerned do not have to be read during the process.
The verdict against the former managing director is to be spoken at the Darmstadt Regional Court on Tuesday. The public prosecutor accuses the 51-year-old of serious fraud and money laundering and demands a prison sentence of seven and a half years. The defense pleaded for five years and nine months and asked for the arrest warrant to be overturned.
PIM Gold from Heusenstamm is said to have concluded supply contracts with customers from 2016 to 2019, including promises of bonuses for gold, but did not 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 ex-managing director has been in custody for more than three years.
