Viktor Orbán's Brother Allegedly Smuggled Illegal Immigrants into Europe: Is the Former Hungarian Prime Minister Involved in His Relative's Crimes?

Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s long-standing fight against illegal migration ended rather unexpectedly for his own family. While he was calling for Europe to be protected from foreigners, his younger brother, Áron, was allegedly profiting from illegally processing visas for migrants.

The controversial politician’s brother is now allegedly behind bars and faces up to 10 years in prison. Meanwhile, Orbán’s party, Fidesz, has already declared him a “political prisoner.”

24 Channel investigated how the scheme for illegally smuggling migrants into Europe worked, what else Áron was profiting from, and whether this story could lead to criminal charges against Viktor Orbán himself, who for years has been intimidating Hungarians with the influx of illegal migrants.

Zero students per hundred migrants: how Áron Orbán allegedly smuggled illegal migrants into Europe

The story of the arrest of Áron Orbán began long before November 9, 2026, when Hungarian law enforcement detained him along with three accomplices. In fact, local journalists had been writing about the former prime minister’s younger brother’s dubious visa business as early as 2024. However, it was only after Viktor Orbán's defeat in the parliamentary elections that law enforcement was able to seriously tackle this case.

Áron Orbán, the younger brother of Hungarian political heavyweight Viktor Orbán, has never been a prominent political figure; he has not held high-level government positions and has primarily focused on his own business ventures. One of his enterprises was the company Multi Shoot, through which, according to journalists, he and his partners organized a rather unusual scheme for obtaining Schengen visas for Vietnamese citizens.

Aron Orbán escorted by police / Photo – Telex

In 2024, Aron Orban Jr.’s company arranged for short training courses to be held, specifically at a university in the Hungarian city of Pécs. Formally, everything appeared entirely legal, as foreigners allegedly received invitations to a two-day training session through standard procedures. In fact, based on this, they were able to obtain Schengen visas and enter Hungary (an EU country). However, as it turned out, they weren’t particularly interested in studying at the alma mater of such distinguished scholars as György Buzsáki, László Leonard, and János Szent-Gótthai.

The fact is that some of the invited Vietnamese nationals did not even show up at the university. Instead, after entering the Schengen Area, they traveled to other Western European countries, where they could remain illegally. According to investigators, in this way, Viktor Orbán’s brother and his accomplices helped more than a hundred Vietnamese citizens enter the EU. Of course, they charged the foreigners a fee for processing the documents and then divided the money among themselves. That, in fact, was their “business.”

Moreover, the training itself raised quite a few questions. After all, these were short courses on providing first aid. So a perfectly logical question arises: why would Vietnamese citizens fly thousands of kilometers to Hungary just to spend two days learning how to save lives? Especially considering that similar courses can easily be taken right in Vietnam.

In fact, it was precisely this circumstance that initially drew journalists’ attention to the activities of Aron Orbán’s company and its “scheme” – so crude as to be brazen – which the competent authorities could not have failed to notice, but “for some reason” never did.

According to the Hungarian publication Telex, law enforcement suspects the businessman of two crimes: the illegal smuggling of migrants and influence peddling. The latter is particularly interesting, as investigators are trying to determine whether Áron used his connections with his older brother to resolve visa issues.

And on November 11, the court ruled to remand Áron Orbán and his partner into custody for an initial period of one month. Although his attorney disputes the validity of the allegations, if found guilty, the businessman faces 5 to 10 years in prison.

Viktor Orbán has spent years convincing Hungarians of the threats posed by migrants / Photo – AP

This is a particularly interesting detail, given that it was Viktor Orbán’s government that, at the time, tightened criminal liability for facilitating illegal migration. So now, the former prime minister’s younger brother risks a lengthy prison sentence under a law introduced by his own family – or, more precisely, by the government led by his older brother.

Schemes, weapons, and influence peddling: what else has Áron Orbán been involved in?

The story involving illegal migrants turned out to be far from the only questionable business venture of Áron Orbán. After all, the younger brother of Hungary’s former prime minister also had interests in the arms and ammunition trade, and his company, Multi Shoot, collaborated with businesses linked in one way or another to the state. However, what interested journalists most was how Áron used his influential surname to conduct business.

Aron Orbán, who was detained / Photo – Hungarian Police

For example, back in October 2024, an audio recording surfaced online of a conversation between Áron Orbán and Dávid Geyi – a member of the Hungarian Parliament and one of the then-prime minister’s close aides. During the conversation, Orbán’s younger brother complained that Hungarian diplomats in Vietnam were refusing to issue visas to some of his clients. Aron assured his interlocutor that all the documents were legitimate and asked for help in resolving the issue.

However, there is no evidence that Geyi actually fulfilled his request. Nevertheless, the very fact of such a conversation raises questions, since ordinary Hungarian businesspeople would hardly have been able to so easily approach the prime minister’s inner circle with a request to intervene in the issuance of visas to third parties.

And the younger Orban’s misadventures did not end there. According to a new investigation by Telex, even after the scandalous audio recording was made public, BNN Santosha – a company linked to him – continued to take money from Vietnamese citizens, promising them jobs in Europe. Specifically, foreigners were offered jobs as cargo handlers with a salary of about 1,000 euros per month, and exactly the same amount was demanded for processing the paperwork. Thus, for the average Vietnamese person trying to find work in the EU, this could have been a rather attractive offer, since such a “fee” would theoretically pay for itself in one or two months of work.

According to journalists’ estimates, the company could have earned hundreds of thousands of euros based on these promises alone. However, a problem arose – some clients never received either a job or the promised visas. Moreover, some of the victims were afraid to go to the police, as they were convinced they were dealing with people whose interests were protected by the Hungarian prime minister’s family.

And most interestingly, the Hungarian prosecutor’s office had known about the activities of these intermediaries since at least 2024. However, the investigation made virtually no progress until the parliamentary elections in April 2026, when Viktor Orbán finally lost power. Orbán was succeeded by a government led by Péter Magyar, one of whose key campaign promises was precisely the fight against corruption. Consequently, even the old, partially shelved cases were given a new lease on life.

A “Political Prisoner” According to Fidesz: Will the Investigations Lead to Accusations Against Viktor Orbán Himself?

The arrest of his younger brother became not only a family problem for Viktor Orbán but also yet another pretext to accuse the new Hungarian government of political repression. Immediately after reports of Áron’s detention surfaced, the former prime minister stated that he himself was the real target of law enforcement, and that his brother was merely a pawn in this political vendetta. Moreover, Orbán’s party, Fidesz, went even further and added Áron to its own list of “political prisoners.”

Fidesz’s list of “political prisoners” / Screenshot

And it’s quite an interesting group that’s gathered there. Among the five “political prisoners” are former Minister of Culture Balázs Hanko, former Minister of National Development Miklós Szesták, and other representatives of the former government who are suspected of corruption offenses. In particular, Szestak is accused of accepting bribes amounting to tens of millions of dollars. However, Fidesz itself is trying to convince Hungarians that all these people have become victims of political persecution by the new government of Péter Magyar.

However, there is one awkward detail in this story for Magyar himself. The fact is that the publication Kontroll was the first to report on the searches and Aron’s detention; the current prime minister’s younger brother, Marton Magyar, was involved in the creation of that publication (yes, the new Hungarian prime minister also has a younger brother). Moreover, the journalists published the information before law enforcement did, and some details were not officially disclosed until the following day. Of course, this does not yet prove political interference in the investigation, but it gives Fidesz an additional reason to accuse the new government of using law enforcement against political opponents.

Péter Magyar’s viral post about his political opponent’s brother:

As a reminder, Magyar came to power on a wave of promises to punish corrupt officials from the previous government; however, six months into his administration, law enforcement agencies have still been unable to bring serious charges against Viktor Orbán himself. In other words, the investigations do indeed involve former ministers, heads of state agencies, and businesspeople, but so far this has not provided sufficient grounds for criminal prosecution of the former prime minister himself.

For example, investigators are looking into the activities of the former head of the National Bank, György Matolcsy, as well as possible corruption schemes involving former Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. However, the former foreign minister fled Hungary for China back in the summer, where he took a job at the automaker BYD. That said, there is still insufficient public evidence of his involvement in specific crimes. Also, there has been no word so far on an investigation into possible treason by Orbán and Szijjártó, nor on exposure for working on behalf of Moscow as either a "mouse" or a "rat". Therefore, the zebras at Orbán's estate in Hatvanpuszta continue to quietly go about their business.

Former Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán / Photo – AP

The problem is that the case against Áron Orbán may turn out to be much more complicated than it currently appears. After all, even if the investigation proves the illegal smuggling of migrants and influence peddling, that still won’t mean his older brother was involved in the crimes. To establish that, law enforcement will have to find evidence of Viktor Orbán’s personal involvement or his deliberate assistance to the suspects.

However, so far, the political situation is clearly not in the former prime minister’s favor. According to a November Median poll, among Hungarians who have made up their minds and plan to vote, 68% support the Magyar “Tisza” Party, while only 20% support “Fidesz.” Consequently, the new prime minister has sufficient public support to continue investigating the actions of his predecessors.

And although Áron’s arrest has not yet brought Viktor Orbán any closer to a prison cell, it has already demonstrated one important shift in Hungarian politics. After 16 years in power, the former prime minister can no longer guarantee immunity even for his own family. Whether he will be able to protect himself from criminal prosecution remains to be seen as the investigations unfold.