Wirecard (ETR:WDI)’s ex-chief executive Markus Braun was charged with fraud, breach of trust and accounting manipulation by Munich prosecutors following a 21-month investigation into the collapse of the German-based payments group.
In 2018, the company was worth €24bn before crashing into insolvency in June 2020 and admitting half its operations and €1.9bn in corporate cash did not exist.
Braun, who has been in custody since July 2020 and denies any wrongdoing, could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty, the Financial Times said.
He was charged with 25 cases of organised professional market manipulation and breaches over trust of hundreds of millions in loans that the company gave to its Asian business partners.
Prosecutors also claim Braun and co-defendants had been aware since 2015 the company was loss-making and knowingly received loans from banks and bond investors to cover losses.
“Markus Braun was not a member of the gang that embezzled millions,” his spokesperson said Monday, adding his client was unaware of criminal ongoings.
The group’s former deputy finance director and head of accounting Stephan von Erffa and an ex Dubai-based manager in charge of a Wirecard (ETR:WDI) subsidiary, who cannot be named as they are a chief witness, were also charged on Monday.
Jan Marsalek, the company’s chief operating officer and who was thought to be at the centre of the fraud, has been in hiding since June 2020 and therefore cannot be charged under German law.
He was last spotted in Minsk, Belarus but is likely now to be hiding in Russia, according to people close to the matter.
Wirecard provided the financial backbone for countless fintech companies including Monzo, Revolut, Loot, Curve, Funding Circle, Atom, Tandem and Pockit before its collapse.