Thus the pleasure trip to Budapest was uncovered

Düsseldorf For decades, the advertising character “Mr. Kaiser” of the Hamburg-Mannheimer insurance company was the epitome of German virtues: polite, helpful and always up to date in the German insurance world. But in May 2011, the Handelsblatt put an end to the idyll: A report painted the picture of absurd decadence coupled with notarial accuracy in the billing of prostitutes.

In the summer of 2007, Hamburg-Mannheimer (HMI), which had merged into the Ergo insurance group, transformed the traditional Gellert thermal baths in Budapest into an open-air brothel for its 100 best representatives and organized a lavish sex party with dozens of hostesses and prostitutes.

“There is no good time for such a scandal,” says Sönke Iwersen, co-head of the Handelsblatt investigative team, in the new episode of “Handelsblatt Crime”. But the scandal was revealed during one of the largest advertising campaigns of the international insurance group. At that time, the company advertised the merger of traditional brands such as Victoria and Hamburg-Mannheimer under the umbrella of the new Ergo brand with the advertising slogan “To insure means to understand”.

Budapest was not an isolated case

Ergo was horrified after the revelation, reported those allegedly responsible and described the open-air orgy in Budapest as unique. However, she kept the independent investigative report that allegedly confirmed this under wraps.