The public prosecutor’s office accuses the founder and organizer of the “lateral thinking” movement, Michael Ballweg, of attempted fraud in more than 9,000 cases, according to a report by “Welt am Sonntag”. It is also about the suspicion of money laundering and tax evasion, each in a “particularly serious case”, reported the “WamS”, citing the indictment written on March 20 by the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office. Accordingly, Ballweg is said to have deceived people who had donated money to “lateral thinking”.
The public prosecutor’s office announced on March 24 that they would bring charges against Ballweg. According to the “WamS”, the 120-page indictment states, among other things, that Ballweg is said to have received a total of around 1.27 million euros from donations within two years. He is said to have deceived donors in a total of 9,450 cases.
According to this, Ballweg is said to have transferred donated money to his own IT company and used it for himself and for the wages of a company employee who took over the press work for “lateral thinking”. In public, however, Ballweg had always claimed that he was only working on a voluntary basis for “lateral thinking” and that he used the proceeds from donations for “lateral thinking” activities.
Ballweg was released from custody on Tuesday after nine months
According to the “jerkin”, Ballweg denies all allegations. The newspaper quotes his defense attorney Alexander Christ as saying that the public prosecutor’s office did not take into account six-figure expenses for “lateral thinking” that Ballweg processed through his IT company. Ballweg spent more on “lateral thinking” than was collected from donations. In addition, none of the “donors” asked for money back in favor of “lateral thinking” or even filed a complaint.
The Stuttgart Regional Court, which is responsible for the case, must now decide whether it will allow the charges brought against Ballweg by the public prosecutor. According to the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court, the 48-year-old was released from custody after nine months on Tuesday. Accordingly, Ballweg’s risk of escaping had decreased.
Ballweg founded the movement called “Quermachen 711”, which developed into the nucleus of a nationwide active scene during the coronavirus pandemic. At times, this had a significant influx and organized demonstrations against measures to contain the pandemic and the vaccination campaigns. According to the authorities, Reich citizens, right-wing extremists and supporters of conspiracy ideologies also took part in the protests. (AFP)
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