Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office I brings charges against ex-Wirecard CEO
This has now been confirmed by the public prosecutor’s office in a press release.
Already on Sunday, March 13, 2021, the “Handelsblatt”, among others, reported that the Munich public prosecutor’s office had filed charges against former Wirecard CEO Dr. Markus Braun more than one and a half years after the collapse of the former Dax group.
Also charged are Stephan von Erffa, former head of accounting at Wirecard AG, and Oliver Bellenhaus, former managing director of CardSystems Middle East, a Dubai-based second-tier subsidiary of Wirecard AG.
The authorities accuse the defendants of, among other things, professional gang fraud, misappropriation of group assets, falsification of the balance sheet and manipulation of the Wirecard share price. The investigators assume that Wirecard had been posting losses since 2015 at the latest. In order to cover these up, the so-called third-party acquirer business was invented, with faked revenues inflating the balance sheet total and sales volume. You can find out more about Wirecard’s business model here.
Jan Marsalek still on the run
In addition, Markus Braun is accused of having pushed through payments in the three-digit million range to dubious partners past the Management Board and Supervisory Board. Braun himself rejects the accusations and sees himself as a victim of criminal machinations allegedly led by ex-CFO Jan Marsalek. Marsalek himself has been on the run since June 2020 and has not been charged.
The further processing of the Wirecard scandal is now the responsibility of the fourth criminal chamber of the Munich I Regional Court, headed by presiding judge Markus Födisch. It will probably be decided in the summer whether the charges against Braun, von Erffa and Bellenhaus will be admitted. The trial is expected to begin in the fall. Braun and his co-defendants face up to ten years in prison.
Lawsuit against auditors Ernst & Young
The law firm Schirp und Partner represents numerous plaintiffs in connection with the Wirecard scandal. Join the class of plaintiffs against the auditors Ernst & Young here and claim your lost investment in Wirecard AG as damages. Furthermore, you can still file your claims in the insolvency proceedings until April 2022. We will be happy to assist you with this as well. You can find all important information on the Wirecard scandal here.