The public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart has filed charges against “lateral thinking” initiator Michael Ballweg. She accuses him of attempted fraud and money laundering, a spokesman said on Friday. The 48-year-old has been in custody for about nine months. His lawyers had previously denied the allegations.
According to the indictment, Ballweg is accused of having raised financial donations for “Quermachen 711” in the amount of more than one million euros since May 2020 at the latest through public appeals from several thousand people. He is said to have deceived the donors about the use of the funds. In addition, he is said to have deceived them by saying that he was working on the recognition of the charitable status of “lateral thinking 711” by the tax office in the form of an association or a foundation.
According to the public prosecutor, Ballweg is said to have used over 500,000 euros for his own purposes. The downgrading of the allegations of fraud to attempted fraud is justified as follows: It cannot be ruled out that the funds he used for private purposes came from those supporters who at least agreed to the corresponding handling.
Ballweg is also accused of money laundering. He is said to have concealed the allegedly illegal origin of the financial donations raised in the mid-six-figure range by making four cash payments. Four other allegations of money laundering were dropped, prosecutors said.
The district court of Stuttgart must now decide on the opening of the main hearing. The “lateral thinking” movement had formed in many German cities from Stuttgart in the course of the corona pandemic. The supporters repeatedly demonstrated publicly against the political measures to contain the virus. There were also attacks on police officers and media representatives. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution monitors the scene for anti-constitutional views, conspiracy ideologies and anti-Semitic tendencies.
“Kick-off Politics” is WELT’s daily news podcast. The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed.
