The Corona period with its protective measures has long been history, people are once again enjoying all the freedoms they had before the pandemic, and the movement of those criticizing the measures has lost significantly in importance. Nevertheless, “lateral thinking” initiator Michael Ballweg still has supporters. In front of the courtroom, the 49-year-old smiled at his fans on Wednesday morning and greeted them like old friends. For them, he is a courageous fighter for basic rights, but for critics, he is a dangerous activist who was in the same boat as Reich citizens and right-wing extremists – and for the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office, he is a fraudster and tax evader.
The entrepreneur will probably have to answer for attempted fraud and tax evasion before the Stuttgart regional court until next year. Because Ballweg collected a lot of money from supporters during the Corona period, and he repeatedly promoted this on the internet, on social media, and on stage at demonstrations. According to the public prosecutor’s office, people gave him money in 9,450 cases between May 2020 and February 2022. It’s a total of 1,269,902.58 euros.
Donation money to increase wealth?
The entrepreneur Ballweg is said to have led donors to believe that they only wanted to use the money for the “lateral thinking” movement. The public prosecutor’s office accuses Ballweg of having deceived his supporters who were willing to pay – and of having used 575,929.84 euros for his own private purposes.
From May 2020 at the latest, Ballweg planned to use the popularity he had gained during the protests for private purposes and to raise money “to support himself and to increase his assets,” said the prosecutor when the indictment was read out. He repeatedly transferred money to private and company accounts, and many transactions could no longer be traced. However, the accusation of money laundering that had once been made was dropped.
It’s about the intention to deceive
Ballweg is not charged with fraud, but only with attempted fraud because some donors were apparently indifferent to what happened to the money, according to the public prosecutor’s argument. Therefore, from a legal perspective, no one was really cheated. The trial therefore focuses on the attempted fraud, i.e. Ballweg’s intention to deceive.
He is also on trial for completed and attempted tax evasion. Ballweg is said to have tried to evade almost half a million euros in taxes. He is said to have actually evaded another 80,000 euros.
Ballweg’s lawyers had repeatedly rejected the public prosecutor’s allegations. His lawyer spoke on Wednesday of a “very incomplete and largely incoherent and incomprehensible indictment.” The allegations are “nothing more than a story.”
Demonstrations in front of the prison
It remains to be seen whether Ballweg will ultimately have to go to prison. He had already been in custody for months starting in June 2022 because of the allegations because the authorities assumed there was a risk of escape. His supporters had repeatedly demonstrated in front of the prison. He was released from prison in April 2023.
Ballweg sees himself as a politically persecuted person. His T-shirt says “Freedom is made of courage” – he smiles and allows himself to be photographed by the press at the start of the trial and speaks of a “good day for Germany”. “This is now being dealt with.” He is not the only critic of the Corona measures who has had to experience state repression, but he is setting a “shining example”. His assets are still confiscated, his companies are destroyed, and he no longer has a bank account because of the allegations. But “lateral thinking” will continue and will not be deterred by the repression, he says.
Ballweg does not want to comment on himself or the allegations in court on Wednesday. More than 30 days of hearings are scheduled before the Commercial Criminal Chamber of the Stuttgart Regional Court until the end of April 2025. Ballweg has three lawyers in the proceedings, one of whom, Reinhard Löffler, sits for the CDU in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament. Löffler recently represented an AfD politician. “I don’t choose my clients based on whether they like the CDU,” he said at the start of the trial. For him, the only thing that counts is the law. “I also represent Judas Iscariot.”
Anti-constitutional views
Stuttgart was the nucleus of the “lateral thinking” movement, after which the protests spread throughout Germany during the pandemic phase. The supporters repeatedly demonstrated against the political measures to contain the virus. There were also attacks on police officers and media representatives. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution looked at the scene because of anti-constitutional views, conspiracy ideologies and anti-Semitic tendencies.
