Lars Windhorst

Lars Windhorst (born November 22 1976 in Rahden, Germany) became famous in the early 1990s. The young entrepreneur founded two corporations, Windhorst Electronics GmbH and Windhorst AG, which operated in the area of electronic retail among others. Today Lars Windhorst works as Managing Director of investment fund Vatas Holding GmbH.

The Wunderkind of German economy

Windhorst started his entrepreneurial career at the age of 15 by operating in the area of assembling and selling computers. Due to unintermediate negotiations with manufacturers in the Far East, Windhorst was able to sell his hardware at extremely economical pricing. Soon German media and politicians worshipped him as the up-and-coming showpiece entrepreneur and Wunderkind.Fact|date=September 2008 When he was chosen to accompany ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl on a trip to Asia—the quintessential knightly accolade, heretofore unknown to any teenager—he was covered by a wide range of German media. Lars Windhorst not only succeeded in attracting the media but also was on first-name basis with VIPs from show business, economics and the political arena such as Michael Douglas and Wendelin Wiedeking (Porsche). He also founded Windhorst Holding, a parent company to ventures such as Windhorst Oil or Windhorst Advertising.

From Riches to Rags

When the New Economy bubble burst, Lars Windhorst's ventures also got into difficulties. A real estate project in Vietnam failed. Windhorst AG retreated to financial services, but Windhorst Electronic GmbH collapsed and ceased business activity, final salaries for employees were only paid after a threat of legal enforcement. In late May 2003 Lars Windhorst swore an civilian oath of disclosure. In early 2008, penal ascertainments became known in regard to the oath of disclosure which might have been wrong because several national and international bank accounts had not been declared (paragraph 156 of German criminal code). Public prosecutors temporarily inquired the case of business man Lars Windhorst in regard to suspicion of fraud. He filed three of his companies for bankruptcy in August 2004, i.e. Windhorst AG, Windhorst Electronics GmbH, and Windhorst Capital Holding GmbH. Windhorst had been under suspicion of financial fraud into the millions since 2004. Preliminary investigations were dropped in February 2006. They had aimed to ascertain if Windhorst had been willing to repay a 10 Million Euro grant at all which was awarded to him in 2001 by his former business partner Ulrich Marseille. In this regard, public prosecutors also ascertain the suspicion of Ulrich Marseille himself rigging the stock market. In June 2005 the land court of Trier, Germany has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Marseille claiming for damages against the Luxembourg subsidiary of M. M. Warburg + Co. (Hamburg, Germany) and a former head of department of the bank.

A Fresh Start

Windhorts personal insolvency was accomplished in summer 2007. Fifty-five creditors either agreed to the offer by the trial court of Berlin-Charlottenburg to accept a 1,9129 percent quota or took action against Lars Windhorst once more. In total Windhorst owed Euro 63 mio. to his creditors. Ulrich Marseille's claim was rejected in August 2007 by Germany's Federal Supreme Court, said FOCUS magazine on Sept. 3, 2007. Due to this court ruling, Lars Windhorst is not indebted to Marseille anymore.In September 2006 word got round that Lars Windhorst represents British fund Sapinda International and had become Managing Director of Vatas Holding GmbH (headquartered in Berlin, Germany and owned by Robert Hersov). Vatas partly owns telco supplier Balda AG and holds stakes (22.1 percent) of telco provider Freenet AG and of airline Air Berlin (15.4 percent).

Escape from Tragedy

On Dec. 26, 2007 Lars Windhorst was injured severely during a plane crash in Kazakhstan. One of the two pilots died when the jet hit a wall when leaving the the runway and exploded. The other pilot and the flight attendant were also harmed. Windhorst's jet (Bombardier Challenger 604) traveled to SAR Macau which is about 60km off Hong Kong. According to hospital reports Lars Windhorst suffered injuries and burns in the face and chest.

According to a report in German news magazine Der Spiegel on Jan. 5, 2008 Lars Windhorst allegedly faces two further criminal ascertainments, being accused of having made a false statutory declaration in a 2005 affidavit. Windhorst declared four German bank accounts but owned about 20 accounts at that time, according to investigations by the Berlin public prosecution department, including American Express accounts and two Credit Suisse accounts and one Credit Suisse securities depot in Geneva, Switzerland. According to his lawyer Robert Unger these accounts have not been activly used any more or already in the red. Unger argues further that all accounts had been checked by every court involved in the process, even Germany's highest court, the Federal Supreme Court. If Windhorst really had to have declare accounts and when exactly these accounts entered the debits side remains juridically unclear.According to a report by Germany newspaper Handelsblatt on March 13, 2008 Lars Windhort commissioned German NORD/LB bank with buying another 13 mio. Balda shares on bahalf of Vatas which the bank obviously has not been able to sell yet. On July 30, 2008 the land court of Berlin sentenced investment company Vatas, lead by Lars Windhorst, to pay EUR 29.4 mio. to British hedge fond Audley Capital. Audley had bought 3 million Curanum shares (an operator of residental homes for the elderly) in 2007 for EUR 8.5 apiece, based on a covenant with Vatas to buy these stocks in spring 2008 for the price of EUR 9.8 apiece. While Audley Capital held the shares their worth dropped about 50 percent. Windhorst refused to buy the stocks afterwards.

Press articles

* [http://www.reuters.com/article/sphereNews/idUSL0364663720080103?sp=true&view=sphere%20(1) Air Berlin says Vatas top shareholder with 15.4 pct] , Reuters, January 3rd 2008
* [http://www.wiwo.de/redline/lars-windhorst-finanzhilfe-aus-london-84209/ Lars Windhorst Finanzhilfe aus London] , Wirtschaftswoche, January 6th 2005
* Windhorst unter Betrugsverdacht, Handelsblatt No.46, March 5th 2004
* Ex-Wunderkind versucht Comeback, Martin Buchenau, Handelsblatt No. 199, October 16th 2000
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1996/07/11/wlar11.html Millionaire at 19 faces inquiry into business deals] , Telegraph, July 7th 1996
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960205/ai_n14027153/, Teenage tycoon earns a place in German legend] , The Independent, February 5th 1996
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960717/ai_n14058147, Lars Windhorst cleared of mishandling funds accusations] , The Independent, July 17th 1996
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/11/24/topics_53.php European Topics: Around Europe] , International Herald Tribune, November 24th 1994

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