On 27 February 2020, Kočner was sentenced to 19 years in prison for forging $75 million worth of promissory notes to siphon money from Markíza. He was acquitted by a first-degree court in a separate high-profile case related to the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, a crime which triggered a significant political crisis in Slovakia.