Lars Windhorst faces arrest warrant over missed court hearing

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An arrest warrant has been issued against Lars Windhorst after he missed a court hearing in Germany over the insolvency of a rundown shopping centre.

The arrest warrant was issued late last month after the controversial German financier failed to attend a court hearing in April, according to a spokeswoman of the Hanover district court, which is overseeing the proceedings.

The investor also ignored repeated requests to hand over documents and keys related to Ihme-Zentrum, a 1970s shopping centre and housing complex in downtown Hanover that is now subject to insolvency proceedings, the spokeswoman added.

“Mr Windhorst did not meet his legal duties of collaboration in the insolvency proceedings,” Hanover District Court told the Financial Times, adding that the investor did not show up to a hearing on April 22 and did not provide an apology.

The warrant adds to the legal woes of Windhorst, who was threatened with jail in April by a Dutch court in a separate business dispute. While the financier is not wanted by German police, according to the Hanover court, Windhorst faces as long as three weeks in prison if he fails to co-operate in the civil proceedings. The court’s bailiff in charge of the case has a legal duty to arrest him and could ask the police for support.

A spokesperson for Windhorst’s Tennor Group told the FT that Windhorst will answer the court’s questions, stressing that the investor “is not on the run” and that “a detention is out of the question”. He added that Windhorst filed an appeal against the arrest warrant.

The insolvency proceedings turn on a shopping centre in which Windhorst acquired a majority stake in 2019, promising to invest millions to spruce it up. After the expensive revamp failed to materialise, two key office tenants — the municipality of Hanover and energy company Enercity — last year terminated their contracts early and stopped paying rent. In late 2023, a Hanover-based lawyer, Jens Wilhelm V, was appointed administrator by the city’s district court.

Windhorst was urged to hand over detailed information about the ownership structure, payment flows and other documents for months, according to a person with direct knowledge of the arrest warrant. It was issued after all other means to make Windhorst co-operate had failed, the person added.

Windhorst’s latest legal hurdle comes months after criminal prosecutors in Berlin closed a long-running investigation into potential breaches of the German banking act, triggered by a criminal complaint filed by BaFin, the financial watchdog.

The regulator suspected that Windhorst may have engaged in banking activities without a licence, a criminal act that carries a maximum five-year sentence. Berlin prosecutors told the FT that the case was closed in April due to a lack of evidence.

Last year, a London high court judge separately found Windhorst in contempt of court for failing to appear at an enforcement hearing for a case brought by an investment firm linked to a Monaco billionaire.