UPDATE 1 — Austrian court grants former property tycoon Benko's request for house arrest

(Adds court statement, details) Benko has been convicted twice of insolvency-related fraud Currently serving a 30-month sentence for first conviction He is also under investigation, in investigatory detention He faces trial for aggravated fraud next month VIENNA, Oct 14 (Reuters) — An Austrian court on Wednesday granted former property tycoon Rene Benko's request to be released from prison to house arrest with an ankle monitor after he served two-thirds of a 30-month sentence for insolvency fraud. Benko, 49, will now move from prison in his home city of Innsbruck to a roughly 60-square-metre (650-square-foot) apartment that his lawyer Norbert Wess has said has been rented for him in the city so he can better prepare for a fraud trial next month. Benko denies all wrongdoing. Benko has been convicted of insolvency-related fraud in the two cases brought to trial so far stemming from a sprawling investigation into the collapse of the Signa property group he founded. The second conviction resulted in a suspended sentence. He remains a suspect in the continuing investigation into a range of potential crimes including fraud, with prosecutors estimating the total harm caused by Benko and o