150,000 euros to influence a pending Italian court case in Benko's favor. The conviction was confirmed by the Higher Regional Court in 2013 and, following Benko's appeal, by Austria's Supreme Court in 2014. As Benko received a suspended sentence of one year, he is not considered a criminal by Austrian law and does not have a criminal record. Expansion towards a holding company On June 18, 2013, Benko retired from the operational leadership of Signa Holding and took over the chairmanship of the Advisory Board of the Signa Group. In 2013, the new company division Signa Retail was founded. With the acquisition of the Karstadt department store chain in 2014, as well as several online and multi-channel retailers, Benkos Signa Holding became a significant company in the retail sector. Since 2014, several projects have been completed in Austria and other European countries. Another milestone was the approval of the WaltherPark shopping center in Bolzano in 2016 by a referendum, there have also been further expansions in e-commerce since 2017, such as the acquisition of Probikeshop or hood.de. After the acquisition of the Austrian furniture chain Kika-Leiner with around 6500 employees in June 2018, negotiations on the acquisition of the department store chain Kaufhof were resumed in July 2018 by Signa Holding under the leadership of René Benko. On September 11, the merger of Karstadt and Kaufhof was officially confirmed. In November 2018, the first investment in the media sector was announced through the acquisition of shares in the Austrian daily newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Kurier by Signa Holding. In March 2019, Benko's Signa Holding, together with RFR Holding, acquired the Chrysler Building in New York for an estimated amount of $150 million. This is René Benko's first major investment in the United States. A month later, the Technical Commission of the South Tyrol regional government approved the sale of Bolzano Airport to a company owned by Benko, Bolzano entrepreneur Josef Gostner and Strabag founder Hans Peter Haselsteiner. In mid-2019, Benko's Signa Holding acquired the remaining shares in Galeria Kaufhof. These were held by Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Company, who thus withdrew from the European market. French investment holding company Société Foncière, Financière et de Participations, which manages the Peugeot family's holdings, acquired a 5% stake in Signa Prime Selection for €186 million. The Hotel Bauer Palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice was acquired in 2020 by Benko's Signa Group,