Inside the Vienna Network: WEC, a Lawyer, and the Global René Benko Affair

How a Vienna “World Economic Council” network surfaced at the center of covert-style operations and controversial gold transactions

1. A New Layer in the Signa / René Benko Scandal

Recent reporting by Austrian media outlets Krone and News on a so-called “forensic project” conducted via the Vienna law firm of Stefan Prochaska has added an alarming new dimension to the already explosive Signa / René Benko case.

These disclosures also bring the World Economic Council (WEC) network – and its central actors Thomas Limberger, Robert Schimanko, and Moshe Buller – sharply into focus, a constellation that Scam-Or Project has been examining for months.

2. The New Disclosures: Prochaska’s “Forensic” Project

According to internal emails and billing documents obtained by News and Krone, Prochaska’s law firm coordinated a “forensic” project for Signa in 2023. The total costs reportedly reached EUR 800,000–1,000,000, with about 90% labeled as “third-party services.”

Key points from the leaked materials:

• The invoices show extensive external security services booked through the project.

• Among the beneficiaries was Seitenberg, an Estonian-Austrian security company associated with Kyrill Lapin.

• The name of a Seitenberg employee appears repeatedly in the billing details.

• Prochaska and Seitenberg’s managing partner Kyrill L. are reportedly linked at the corporate level.

• Signa’s then-CFO Arthur Mühlberger complained internally about the escalating costs and the opaque structure of “third-party services,” demanding detailed breakdowns of cash expenditures and service logs.

In practical terms, Prochaska’s law firm appears to have operated as a coordination and billing hub for external “forensic” and security providers, wrapped in legal privilege and layered invoicing.

3. Enter Moshe Buller and the International Intelligence Agency (IIA)

In parallel, documents published by News show that Israeli ex-intelligence officer Moshe Buller and his International Intelligence Agency (IIA) received a formal mandate from Signa in February 2023.

The Mandate

• IIA was tasked with “investigating” long-standing Benko confidant Dieter Berninghaus.

• The order was reportedly requested by “two senior Signa managers and a Vienna law firm.”

• The stated goal was to assess whether Berninghaus represented a “risk person” for Signa/Benko – classic internal surveillance language.

Buller is not a random private investigator:

• He appears as a “WEC Ambassador” on the website of WEC World Economic Council GmbH, a Vienna-registered company.

• He was formally appointed by WEC in a 2020 appointment letter (cited in media reports).

• Following growing public scrutiny, WEC has since removed its ambassadors list from the website.

In other words, a WEC Ambassador and former intelligence officer was officially engaged to surveil a key Benko insider, under a mandate linked to Signa and a Vienna law firm.

4. The WEC–Signa Axis: Foundations, Ambassadors, and Gold

Scam-Or Project has mapped the broader WEC ecosystem, which includes:

• WEC World Economic Council GmbH in Vienna – a for-profit entity with branding that echoes the World Economic Forum.

• A Berlin-based NGO IWS-WEC, closely intertwined with WEC.

• Deep ties to SilverArrow Capital Group, associated with banker-entrepreneurs Thomas Limberger and Robert Schimanko.

4.1 Key People Around WEC

4.2 WEC and the Benko Foundations

In November 2024, two key WEC figures moved directly into the heart of René Benko’s foundation structure:

• Laura Privatstiftung (Austria):

• Thomas Limberger joined the foundation board.

• INGBE Stiftung (Liechtenstein):

• Robert Schimanko became a board member.

4.3 The 360 kg Gold Transaction

On 11 March 2025, while René Benko was already in pre-trial detention, INGBE Stiftung sold more than 360 kilograms of gold for approximately EUR 30 million. The proceeds were credited to an account at a Liechtenstein private bank.

Important details:

• The transaction triggered a suspicious transaction report to the Liechtenstein FIU, which forwarded the information to the Austrian WKStA (anti-corruption prosecutor’s office).

• Historical balance sheets show that INGBE held:

• Gold worth over EUR 81 million in 2021,

• Around EUR 45 million in mid-2022,

• Plus approximately EUR 23 million in cash and currency reserves.

• The WKStA described the gold sale as “practical rather than economic,” implying an attempt to move assets beyond the reach of European authorities and citing it as evidence of flight and concealment risk.

The convergence of WEC partners (Limberger and Schimanko) within these foundations – precisely around the time of crisis and asset movements – is therefore highly significant.

Sources: krone.at, puls24.at.

5. Working Hypothesis: A Pre-Collapse Shielding Strategy?

Scam-Or Project stresses that there is currently no court ruling establishing that WEC, its officers, or its ambassadors have committed criminal offenses in relation to the Benko case.

However, based on publicly available information, a working hypothesis emerges that investigators should examine:

Hypothesis:
From at least 2023 onward, a network around WEC and its partners – including SilverArrow Capital and the IIA of WEC Ambassador Moshe Buller – was used, via the law firm of Stefan Prochaska, to:

• gather intelligence on internal critics and key partners (such as Dieter Berninghaus), and

• prepare and execute asset protection measures, including foundation restructuring and the monetisation/transfer of gold and other assets.

5.1 Timeline Indicators

• Early 2023:

• Prochaska’s “forensic project” begins, with massive “third-party” security expenses.

• IIA / Moshe Buller is mandated to monitor Berninghaus on behalf of Signa/Benko and a Vienna law firm.

• Late 2024:

• WEC partners Limberger and Schimanko join the boards of core Benko foundations (Laura Privatstiftung, INGBE Stiftung).

• March 2025:

• INGBE, with Schimanko on the board, sells 360 kg of gold for more than EUR 30 million during Benko’s detention, triggering a money-laundering alert.

5.2 Functional Roles of the Actors

• Stefan Prochaska / law firm

• Serves as legal coordinator and billing node for “forensic” and intelligence services.

• Allows sensitive activities to be shielded by attorney–client privilege.

• Moshe Buller / IIA

• Acts as covert intelligence operator, officially engaged to monitor a key insider and his family.

• Seitenberg / Kyrill Lapin

• Another security contractor integrated into the same budget and invoicing framework.

• Thomas Limberger & Robert Schimanko

• Move into key foundations and assume roles overseeing structures holding gold, art, and other potentially mobile assets.

5.3 WEC as Organisational Overlay

• WEC is a private GmbH in Vienna, not an NGO, marketing itself as an elite economic council and global network.

• Its ambassador system (including Buller and William H. Shawn) offers a ready-made framework for international networking, lobbying, and financial structuring around high-risk clients.

From a forensic viewpoint, this resembles a dual-use platform:

• Externally: a respectable, high-level business and policy network.

• Internally: potentially a toolbox for crisis management, including surveillance, information control, and asset migration.

Whether this toolbox was used to help locate missing investor funds or to shield Benko’s private wealth from creditors is precisely what prosecutors must now determine.

6. Core Questions for Prosecutors and Supervisory Authorities

Scam-Or Project considers the following questions central to any serious investigation:

6.1 Mandates and Payment Flows

• What exact mandates did the law firm of Stefan Prochaska sign in relation to “forensic” or security services for Signa?

• Did these mandates explicitly include IIA / Moshe Buller, Seitenberg, or other persons/entities connected to WEC or SilverArrow Capital?

• Were any WEC- or SilverArrow-related entities – directly or indirectly – compensated from:

• Signa,

• its subsidiaries, or

• Benko-controlled foundations such as Laura Privatstiftung or INGBE Stiftung?

6.2 Role of WEC in Foundation Governance

• What specific decision-making powers did Limberger and Schimanko exercise in Laura Privatstiftung and INGBE Stiftung, especially regarding:

• the sale of 360 kg of gold,

• movement of art and other high-value assets,

• any restructuring or changes in beneficiaries?

• Did they approve or facilitate transactions that weakened the position of creditors?

6.3 Intelligence and Surveillance Operations

• To what extent did IIA and other security providers target:

• journalists,

• former insiders, or

• critical business partners?

• Under whose legal instruction and with what stated purpose were such operations conducted?

• Were they genuinely aimed at risk management, or were they designed to intimidate and silence potential witnesses and whistleblowers?

6.4 WEC’s Own Governance and Compliance

• Did WEC adopt internal compliance rules to prevent its platform from being used in connection with controversial or criminal activities?

• Once the Signa crisis escalated, did WEC or IWS-WEC take any steps to distance themselves from Benko and his structures, or did their integration deepen instead?

7. Call to Whistleblowers: Clarifying WEC’s Real Role

Scam-Or Project and its German-language network platform Wiener Zocker view the emerging WEC–Benko–Prochaska–Buller constellation as a high-risk nexus at the intersection of:

• elite business networking,

• opaque foundation and offshore structures, and

• private intelligence operations directed at insiders and critics.

Once again, we underline:

• We are not claiming that WEC, SilverArrow, or the individuals named are judicially proven guilty of illegal conduct.

• We are stating that the overlap of roles, timing, and financial flows raises serious and legitimate questions in one of Europe’s biggest white-collar crime cases.

To answer those questions, insider information is crucial.

How to Share Information

Whistleblowers, former employees, service providers, and advisors with knowledge of:

• the gold trail,

• “forensic” invoices,

• internal security mandates, or

• the WEC network’s role in asset and information management around René Benko and Signa

are invited to contact us through our website.

We will continue to follow the money – and, with your help, we will also follow the truth.