Wife and mother of German ‘wind power swindler’ set up companies in Dublin

The wife and mother of a German wind power fraudster who went on the run last month established two companies in Dublin that have links with his business.Hendrik Holt, who boasted that “greed is good” in a documentary, was convicted in 2022 of defrauding wind power companies, including the parent of SSE Airtricity, out of some €10 million by selling them fictitious rights to wind farms in Germany. Holt was sentenced to nine years in prison but was the subject of an international manhunt after he absconded from day-release on August 25th. German authorities received a letter to say Holt would not be returning. An Instagram account linked to Holt posted “greetings from Moscow” and praised its caviar but this appeared to be an attempt to confuse police. German authorities said Holt was arrested in Dubai on Tuesday.German journalists tracking the fraudster, dubbed the “Wind Power Swindler”, discovered that a website that advertised how people could access the “Holt Inner Circle” listed an address in Kandoy House, a building that contains offices above a Eurospar in Fairview in Dublin.READ MORECompany records show two Irish companies are registered at the Fairview address with links to Holt. Acarnum CLG was incorporated in April of this year. Its directors are Jana Holt, Hendrik Holt’s wife, and Simone Holt, his mother who was convicted as part of his wind energy fraud. Acarnum’s business is the renting and owning of real estate. On April 7th, Hendrik Holt witnessed the signatures of his wife and mother on the company’s constitution filed with the Companies Registration Office.A second company, Amtexo CLG, was incorporated at the same Fairview address in May 2024 with Jana Holt registered as a director along with another German national Torsten Terhorst. Hendrik Holt was in his mid-20s when he sold fraudulent energy projects. Photograph: Friso Gentsch/DPA This Irish company is the subject of litigation in Hamburg, with Terhorst accusing Jana Holt of wrongly directing €181,000 in company money to a private account. Jana Holt is defending the case and has said the money was transferred to a company account. Her lawyers have argued that Terhorst is precluded from taking his case as Amtexo is an Irish company and an individual director does not have the authority to represent a company in Irish company law.The 2019 deal that SSE Renewables signed with Holt’s company for a 134KW onshore wind farm is still listed on SSE’s website and is described as a “a good incremental addition” to its onshore pipeline.[ Ireland central to black-market gambling empire, investigation findsOpens in new window ]An SSE spokesperson said it disclosed in June 2020 that, following investigations by the German authorities relating to Holt Holding Group, it had ceased work on a portfolio of wind projects in Germany and was co-operating with the authorities.SSE said its potential exposure was “limited to low single-digit millions of euros”, which it since recovered through insurance.Journalists Nina Kallmeier and Dirk Fisser with Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (Haz) traced the Holt connection to Ireland. Kallmeier said even though Holt was in his mid-20s when he sold fraudulent energy projects, his appearance, which involved wearing a three-piece suit with a pocket square, an expensive watch and having a driver to chauffeur him in an expensive car, made him appear well off. He had a team that included an older businessman and they complemented each other.Fisser said Holt claimed to have land rights that wind farm projects desperately needed.[ ‘Fugitive’ businessman Jason Cardiff – wanted in the US, living in €2.9m south Dublin homeOpens in new window ]“The problem was that his gang had forged those contracts on a massive scale, in some cases with astonishing incompetence,” he said. “In one instance, investigators discovered the signature of a woman on a contract who had already been dead at the time she was supposedly signing it. Yet such details somehow escaped the attention of the corporations and their lawyers. Apparently, the prospect of lucrative returns from wind farm investments blinded them to the risks.” Creditors are seeking the return of €40 million from Holt’s criminal insolvency. Despite his conviction in 2022 and sentencing in 2023, Holt gave media interviews from behind bars and on his temporary releases. In a nationally broadcast documentary he said that “greed is good”. Fisser said records showed Holt completed 513 temporary releases, but he did not return from his 514th. The German journalists said Ireland was regarded as a “tax haven” in Germany and this may have attracted the Holts to set up here but they are unsure what the connection was.“What is clear, however, is that the entire network of companies is now likely to come under intense scrutiny from German investigators,” Fisser said.