Benko Faces Bribery Probe in Test for $25 Billion Empire (1)

Rene Benko has built an opulent $25 billion real estate empire by wooing old money and up-and-coming power players, but now faces the biggest test of his career amid a tangle of legal challenges and market headwinds.

Prosecutors in Vienna claim donations he made to a charity were veiled bribery payments to facilitate building permits. The 45-year-old denies the charges and expects to be cleared in court. Hearings in the case will continue Friday.

On top of that, a former official in Austria’s finance ministry told anti-corruption investigators that Benko offered him a lucrative job in exchange for help resolving ...