Overview
- The Cologne Regional Court convicted a 61-year-old businessman of commercial fraud and sentenced him to three years in prison, ordering the repayment of roughly €1.6 million.
- He ran eight real test sites in Cologne, Leverkusen and Essen but inflated the number of tests in bills to the KVNO, the regional doctors association that reimbursed providers during the pandemic.
- Judges said he used the illicit proceeds to cover losses at his struggling company.
- Prosecutors had claimed nearly double the financial damage in the indictment, but the court set a lower recoverable amount.
- The defendant had no prior record, confessed early, helped clarify the facts, and the case against his 63-year-old wife was dropped without conditions.