Verdict Expected Today in Two-Year German Pellets Fraud Trial

The trial concludes with reduced charges and alleged damages after adjustments to the insolvency timeline.

The Landgericht in Schwerin is set to announce the verdict today in the fraud trial against German Pellets' former CEO, marking the end of a two-year judicial process.
Prosecutors revised the insolvency onset date to November 15, 2015, significantly narrowing the scope of charges and reducing the alleged damages from €77.3 million to €2.5 million.
The trial involved over 40 days of hearings, with extensive witness testimonies and expert opinions scrutinizing the company's financial mismanagement and misleading disclosures.
German Pellets, once a world leader in wood pellet manufacturing, collapsed in February 2016 after failed expansion plans, leaving thousands of small investors with significant losses totaling €260 million in investments and €427 million in claims.
The company's ambitious but unsustainable strategies included issuing high-yield Genussscheine to finance ventures like converting a Belgian coal power plant to wood pellet operations.