Breach of Trust · Imprisonment Middelhoff / Arcandor / Karstadt-Quelle

The Essen Regional Court convicted former Arcandor CEO Thomas Middelhoff in 2014 of breach of trust [Untreue] in 27 cases and tax evasion, sentencing him to three years in prison — among other things, for private charter flights at the company's expense (over 500,000 euros). The parent company of the Karstadt department store chain had gone bankrupt in 2009, shortly after Middelhoff had left with a 2.3 million euro severance package. The background: a plan to take KarstadtQuelle private and sell it off in parts, together with Quelle heiress Madeleine Schickedanz, real estate broker Josef Esch, and the private bank Sal. Oppenheim.