An Austrian man was convicted on Thursday and sentenced to 15 years in prison for plotting a terrorist attack targeting Taylor Swift's sold-out concerts in Vienna in 2024. Authorities said the scheme could have killed tens of thousands of people.
The state court in Wiener Neustadt found the defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen identified only as Beran A. under Austrian privacy law, guilty on multiple charges, including those directly tied to the foiled concert attack, according to the Austria Press Agency.
Beran A. had already admitted to the concert-related charges at the start of the trial last month. Before the court broke to deliberate on Thursday, he addressed the room briefly. "I would just like to say that I am sorry," he said.
The conspiracy unfolded on Aug. 6, 2024, when U.S. intelligence agencies passed a tip to Austrian counterparts. Austrian authorities acted quickly, arresting Beran A. and a 17-year-old that day, with a third suspect taken into custody two days later. A search of Beran A.'s apartment on Aug. 7 uncovered bomb-making materials, including chemical substances he had allegedly produced after searching online for instructions on constructing a shrapnel bomb using triacetone triperoxide—an explosive commonly linked to Islamic State operations. He had also made repeated attempts to illegally purchase weapons and smuggle them into Austria ahead of the shows.
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen later said the two "were plotting to kill a huge number—tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans—and were quite advanced in this," Cohen said at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit in Maryland in August 2024. Then-White House national security spokesman John Kirby confirmed U.S. involvement, stating, "The United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift's concerts there in Vienna.”
Concert organizer Barracuda Music canceled all three Vienna performances, which had been scheduled to begin Aug. 8, 2024. Swift did not publicly address the incident until she had finished the European leg of her tour. "Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating," she wrote on Instagram. "The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows." Swift also explained her weeks of silence, writing: "Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows.”
Beyond the Vienna plot, Beran A. was convicted alongside a second defendant, Arda K., also 21, whose full name has not been made public. The two were found guilty of traveling and training for terrorist purposes and belonging to a terrorist organization. Both men were also convicted of contributing to attempted murder in connection with a co-conspirator—identified as Hasan E.—who allegedly stabbed a security officer and wounded three other officers and a woman during an attack in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in March 2024, and who remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia. Arda K. received a 12-year prison sentence. Both men listened without visible emotion as the verdicts and sentences were read.