In the trial of the insolvent gold dealer PIM, the Darmstadt Regional Court wants to announce its verdict today. In the two-year process, the public prosecutor’s office accuses the 51-year-old former managing director of serious fraud and money laundering. She asked for a total of seven and a half years in prison. The defense pleaded for five years and nine months and asked for the arrest warrant to be overturned.
According to the defense, almost 90 days of trial in two years and almost 200 witnesses are the balance sheet in the proceedings for the insolvent gold dealer. There were also 28 so-called self-readings of documents to simplify the procedure with around 7,000 pages.
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 51-year-old was executed and the company went bankrupt. In its pleading, the defense itself described the complainant as a “criminal”.
Insolvency administrator Renald Metoja spoke in the process of more than 7,000 creditors with legitimate and verified claims of 140 million euros. After filing for bankruptcy, around 270 kilograms of fine gold and 180 kilograms of jewelry were found. According to him, three tons of gold should have been there.
