Eccentric celebrity-mad multi-millionaire Richard Lugner was conned out of 150,000 GBP by fraudster claiming to be Halle Berry’s manager, a court has heard. Tycoon Lugner – infamous for inviting celebs to Austria’s annual Vienna Opera Ball – had been negotiating with the conwoman to bring the Hollywood actress to the city as his guest at […]
Shopping centre operator Richard Lugner has been fighting for Sunday opening hours in his shopping centre “Lugner City” in Vienna. He is now supported by the BZÖ and will lobby in Brussels for the extension of opening hours. „I will go tho Brussels in June, together with representatives of the Berlin chamber of commerce and […]
Political leaders and showbiz stars had only kind words about last night’s (Thurs) Opera Ball. Austrian President Heinz Fischer said the event had nothing to do with the corruption scandals former Austrian government ministers, businesspeople and lobbyists are accused of being involved in. A special parliamentary commission headed by Gabriela Moser of the Green Party […]
Richard Lugner has praised Brigitte Nielsen as the “nicest Opera Ball guest I have ever had.” The Danish model and actress accepted the 79-year-old Viennese businessman’s invitation to this year’s Viennese State Opera Ball. Around 5,000 people will attend the glamorous event tonight (Thurs). TV channel ORF will screen all the action from the red […]
Richard Lugner has revealed details about his Sunday shopping initiative. The businessman – who owns and manages Vienna’s Lugner City shopping centre – recently said he contacted Social Democratic (SPÖ) Mayor Michael Häupl to find out whether the city of Vienna might issue an extraordinary regulation enabling him to open on the seventh day of […]
A 43-year-old man is in court for defrauding media enterprises by promising them to get Paris Hilton to attend events. Judges in Vienna heard yesterday (Tues) how the defendant received 80,000 Euros from an internet radio station after claiming he had the exclusive rights to organise the US American it-girl’s European activities. The broadcaster took […]
Police said just six people demonstrated against the Vienna State Opera Ball last night (Thurs).Officials in the capital put dozens of anti-riot officers on alert to deter possible demonstrators. Up to 2,000 protesters collided with the police at previous occasions of the pompous event which is regarded as one of the cultural highlights of the […]
An important Vienna city centre traffic route will be closed down for three hours tomorrow (Thurs), it has been announced.Motorist association ÖAMTC appealed to drivers today to avoid the area of the State Opera, as the Ringstraße boulevard will be shut down for individual traffic between Schwarzenberg Square and Operngasse from 8pm to 11pm. The […]
A veteran playboy inviting international stars and starlets to the Vienna Opera Ball was mentioned more often in Austrian papers than any of the countrys politicians last week.Political magazine profil reports that Viennese businessman Richard Lugners name occurred in Austrias leading newspapers and magazines 217 times between Monday and Friday of last week. This means […]
A national TV manager has caused a stir by calling on staff not to let the Opera Ball “turn into a ball of the bitches”.Wolfgang Lorenz, the chief programme director of Austrian broadcaster ORF, confirmed today (Weds) that a leaked company-internal e-mail with this statement was sent by him to employees in charge of the […]