The Austrian aristocrat, Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly had been convicted of money laundering in connection with a case linked to the European aeronautical and defense giant EADS, which has since been renamed Airbus. He was definitively released on appeal by the Austrian courts

In a statement, the Vienna Court of Appeal recalled on Wednesday that “for money laundering to take place, this money must come from inflation”. The court said that the “court of first instance did not prove that money was received to embezzle funds to the detriment of the company.” In 2022, Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly was given a suspended sentence of six months in prison and a fine of 50,000 euros, in a rare conviction for corruption in Austria. According to the indictment, he laundered money from the assets of a former division manager of the EADS group style="font-family: