The disgraced German property tycoon Juergen Schneider, who swindled the country's major banks out of nearly $3bn, has been jailed for more than six years.

The sentence came after a six-month fraud trial at a court in Frankfurt.

For many years, Schneider, 63, was one of Germany's most glamorous and respected real estate managers, until his empire crashed in 1994 with huge debts.

He spent a year on the run before being tracked down and arrested in Miami and returned to Germany.

The financier admitted paying bribes and forging a document to obtain a bank loan, but pleaded with the judge for a lenient sentence.

The sentence of six years and nine months was one year less than the seven years and nine months prosecutors had demanded, and one year more than the sentence requested by defence lawyers.

Schneider's property empire collapsed after he overstated the expected amount of rental income on properties.

He has insisted that his banks, among them his largest creditor Deutsche Bank AG, tacitly accepted irregularities in his loan applications because they believed his projects would be profitable.

Schneider, who has spent 32 months in custody so far, reacted calmly when Judge Heinrich Gehrke read the verdict on Tuesday.
 

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