Trial after million-dollar burglary at Sparkasse: Lawyer rejects allegations

After the million-dollar burglary at a savings bank in Baden-Württemberg, the lawyer of one of the suspected bank robbers rejected the allegations against his client.

There is no evidence that the 23-year-old and accomplices cleared out almost 80 lockers in a bank in Güglingen, southwest of Heilbronn, in August 2025 and made millions in loot, said the defense attorney at the start of the trial before the Heilbronn regional court. The lawyer accused the investigators of “total failure”.

The public prosecutor, on the other hand, is convinced: The German in the dock broke into a branch of the Kreissparkasse Heilbronn last summer. He wanted to use the loot to finance his expensive living. According to previous investigations, the perpetrators broke into numerous lockers in the vault during the night-time raid and stole items such as jewelry and money worth three million euros. There is still no trace of the loot to this day.

Ex-employees are said to have been there

A suspected accomplice - a former trainee at the bank - is said to have provided the suspected bank robbers with the combination of numbers for the safe, photos, videos and the floor plan of the bank. He was sentenced to a youth prison sentence of three years and four months in August 2026.

At the start of the new trial, the defense attorney criticized the fact that the allegations against his client were based “solely” on the trainee’s confession. There are no chat histories or phone calls and the loot cannot be found. The investigation was one-sided. “Something stinks to high heaven,” said the defense attorney in his hour-long statement and was convinced of his client’s innocence.

Given the complexity of the case and the large number of more than 80 witnesses invited, the court expects negotiations in this further process to last until at least mid-December.

Not an isolated case

The case is part of a series of high-profile bank break-ins in recent years. It was only shortly after Christmas 2025 that unknown people broke into almost all of the 3,100 lockers in a savings bank in Gelsenkirchen - there is still no trace of the perpetrators and the damage could run into the three-digit million range.