Patricia Schlesinger trial for alleged breach of trust at RBB, Digi Mart USA News (Berlin): Starting Tuesday, former RBB director general Patricia Schlesinger will stand trial before the Berlin Regional Court on charges of breach of trust to the detriment of the RBB, a public broadcaster. The case is described as unprecedented: she is the first director general of a public broadcaster to face criminal court proceedings.
The case stems from a scandal that shook the RBB in summer 2022 and spread across the public broadcasting system. It began in June 2022 with a report by the trade publication Business Insider that Schlesinger’s husband, Gerhard Spörl, held a consulting contract worth more than 100,000 euros with Messe Berlin, arranged through Wolf-Dieter Wolf, who chaired both the Messe supervisory board and the RBB broadcasting council.
Further allegations followed, including the use of a luxury Audi A8 limousine that her husband reportedly used for private trips, and a renovation of the director general’s floor costing about 1.4 million euros. It also emerged that Schlesinger had hosted prominent guests at her home and billed the costs to the RBB, which she described as business dinners.
A variable pay system for the leadership team was also made public, under which Schlesinger’s salary of 303,000 euros was reportedly increased by several tens of thousands of euros. Six executives reportedly received a monthly bonus of 1,700 euros tied to the RBB’s chairmanship of the ARD from January 2022.
Schlesinger resigned as director general on August 7, 2022, and was dismissed without notice on August 22. Prosecutors have identified 26 alleged cases of breach of trust involving her.
These include variable pay components that allegedly led to 933,505 euros in improper payments and ARD chairmanship allowances totaling about 122,400 euros. In seven cases, prosecutors allege a particularly serious case due to commercial conduct or particularly high damage, which carries a penalty of up to ten years.
Co-defendants include former broadcasting council chairman Wolf-Dieter Wolf, former administrative director Hagen Brandstäter, and former legal director Susann Lange. Prosecutors say the defendants acted in changing combinations.
The trial is scheduled for 56 hearing days and will examine the role of the other administrative board members and whether transparent criteria existed for awarding bonuses.
Schlesinger’s attorney, Oliver Sahan, said she directed all decisions as director general solely toward the interests of the RBB and that the allegations will be fully refuted. All defendants deny the charges.
Separately, proceedings against Schlesinger’s husband were discontinued in exchange for a fine in the mid four-figure range, according to Business Insider, and prosecutors are investigating four other people from her former circle.
Schlesinger has since taken a position as an adviser to senior executives with the Berlin agency Stella Circle, which said the indictment does not change its cooperation with her.
