Severino Seeger has vowed to pay back the money he is accused of tricking his victims out of
The newly crowned winner of a German TV singing contest has been spared jail after admitting defrauding pensioners.
Severino Seeger won €500,000 (£360,000; $530,900) on the show, Germany's Quest for a Superstar (DSDS, external) last month.
The 28-year-old was accused of being part of a gang that tricked victims, mainly elderly women, out of thousands of euros using a bank card scam.
The judge gave him a suspended sentence of one year and nine months and Seeger agreed to pay damages of €101,000.
Seeger appeared before a judge on Tuesday as the court was due to hear testimony from several elderly witnesses. The hearing in Frankfurt had been delayed until after the DSDS final.
Local media showed images of fans crowding around the building, some wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Superstar 2015: Prince of hearts".
'Ashamed'
The singer told the court he had been manipulated by people after separating from his first wife
The singer had been accused of posing as a bank employee to help collect cards and pin numbers from victims, many of them older women.
Gang members - several of whom have already been convicted - called their targets to tell them their cards needed to be checked because of technical problems.
The oldest victim is said to have been 88 years old.
Mr Seeger told the court he had just separated from his first wife when he was manipulated by a number of people including a cousin, according to German media.
"I said yes because I was stupid," he said.
He was earlier quoted as saying he was "ashamed" of what he had done. "I will pay the money back to the cent," he told Bild newspaper.
The singer was voted winner of the 12th series of DSDS - part of the "Idol" franchise - in mid-May with the song Hero Of My Heart, written by Dieter Bohlen who is also a judge on the show.
As well as the prize money, Mr Seeger, from the town of Waechtersbach, north-west of Frankfurt, won a top recording contract.
He had been due to appear in court in March, according to reports. However his hearing was said to have been delayed initially after the judge fell ill, and later postponed due to his participation in the RTL TV show.
RTL said it would not give him any further exposure.
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