Frankfurt - A court jailed Juergen Schneider for six years and nine months yesterday for masterminding the fraud behind the biggest post-war property collapse in Germany. The court also blamed banks for being foolish.
Schneider, who fled to the US leaving 2,000 creditors holding debts of more than six billion marks (£2.3 billion) was found guilty of obtaining loans by fraud. Schneider's former partner, architect Karl-Heinrich Kuepferle, was given a nine-months' suspended sentence.