Real estate mogul who fled to Dubai sentenced to four years in jail for fraud

Real estate mogul Roger Lips was sentenced to four years in prison by the court in Zwolle on Friday. Lips was arrested after he had fled to Dubai. The court considers the charge of large-scale bankruptcy fraud proven.

The Brabant real estate entrepreneur's empire collapsed in 2013 with a residual debt burden of 320 million euros. The 60-year-old businessman fled to Dubai at the beginning of 2014 after he had been briefly held hostage during the bankruptcy by order of the trustees.

Eventually, a criminal report was filed regarding the 11 million euros that had gone missing. This is how the suspect removed his luxury car fleet worth two million euros from the estate. The fleet included several Porsches, Mercedes cars, and a Ferrari.

According to the court, Lips made millions of euros disappear from the bankrupt company by using fictitious debt. He had suddenly built up millions of euros worth of debt with his wife. This fictitious debt was settled, among other things, by transferring the fleet to her.

With his wife's help, he managed to ship the cars from Antwerp to Dubai in 2014. The many creditors of the company were conned in this way.

Both suspects were not present in the court. Neither of them has taken any responsibility for their actions, and the court holds that against them, the judgment states. Lips's wife, Astrid S., was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Lips was already sentenced to eight months in jail in March 2022 for withholding information in the bankruptcy. Both suspects were acquitted of money laundering and of the disappearance of the inventory of the company's luxury office building.

The punishments are in line with the prosecutors' recommendations. Lips and his wife requested that the court let them follow the case via video connection, but their request was denied.

"They chose to voluntarily evade justice in the Netherlands," the court said in response to the request at the time. Lips claims that his side of the story was never heard in the case. He told ANP that it was "surreal" that the case was continued even though he could not give his version of the events.