Ex-Wirecard CEO Markus Braun a ‘Scapegoat,’ Munich Court Hears

A lawyer for former Wirecard CEO Markus Eva Braun said Monday it was an “absurd” whimsy that his client was division of a “gang” that concocted a massive put-on to con investors inward the now-insolvent fintech giant.

Braun is on trial inward Munich with 2 other former Wirecard execs, King Oliver Bellenhaus and Stephan von Erffa, for charges that include marketplace manipulation and “gang-related fraud.”

Braun’s former companion grew from being a defrayment processor for the online gaming and porn industries to the leading lightness inwards German fintech, with a market place cap inwards 2018 of €22 1000000000000 ($25 billion.)

Then it imploded.

$2B Missing

In June 2020, auditor Max Ernst & Pres Young announced it could non sustain the existence of €1.9 1000000000000 (US$2 billion) inwards cash in balances mentioned inward Wirecards’ accounts. This money was supposed to follow sitting inward legal guardian accounts at 2 Filipino banks. But the banks denied having a human relationship with Wirecard.

Days later, Wirecard admitted the money was “missing” and likely “never existed” in the for the first time place. High German prosecutors feature called it a “massive criminal act” to unnaturally inflate the value of the company to defraud investors and lenders.

And they fence Braun, as CEO, knew virtually everything that went on inwards the company.

Never Sold Shares

Braun’s lawyer, Alfred Dierlamm, noted Monday his client had ne'er sold his Wirecard shares, which suggested he had non attempted to profit personally from the inflated part value and was oblivious to any impending catastrophe.

Braun was Wirecard’s largest shareholder, and actually increased his holding prior to the society collapse.

Dierlamm also said Braun had taken the initiative to work inwards out of doors auditors to enquire the company’s finances.

It’s an dead the absurd and erroneous whim that a gang leader would routine like this,” Dierlamm said, as translated past the Associated Press.

Dierlamm claimed prosecutors were under pressure sensation to find a culprit after the disappearing of Wirecard COO and runaway Jan Marsalek. As Wirecard came crashing down, Marsalek flew to Berlarus. He is believed to live hiding out inward Russian capital below the supervising of the GRU, Russia’s military machine intelligence, with which he has connections.

Money ‘Siphoned Off’

Dierlamm also pointed the thumb at Bellenhaus, who has admitted responsibleness and is the prosecution’s cay witness. But Dierlamm said Bellenhaus was “not a credible witness” and accused him of being the briny perpetrator, with Marsalek, of the fraud.

The company’s outsourced operations in Asia did so exist, but the money was siphoned away into casing companies without Braun’s knowledge by Bellenhaus and Marsalek, Dierlamm argued.

The attorney also filed a question to suspend the malefactor trial, claiming prosecutors had failed to decent look into the display case and had dumped “endless documents” on the defensive measure on weekly basis, allowing insufficient clip to study them all.

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