Fraud charges filed in Germany against former Wirecard boss Braun

Munich (dpa) – Prosecutors filed fraud charges on Monday against the man at the centre of one of Germany’s biggest financial scandals of recent years: Markus Braun, the former chief executive of payments provider Wirecard.

The former DAX-listed company went bankrupt at the end of June 2020 after it admitted to fictitious orders amounting to €1.9 billion ($2.08 billion).

The scandal shocked the German financial world and also led to opposition accusations of lax oversight against the finance minister at the time – and now chancellor – Olaf Scholz.

Investigators accuse Braun and two other former Wirecard managers of working together to carry out the fraud.

They are alleged to have falsified balance sheets since 2015 and caused losses to lenders to the tune of €3.1 billion ($3.4 billion).

According to Monday’s indictment, Braun knowingly signed off on the false balance sheets.

Braun’s lawyer did not give any immediate comment on the charges. The Austrian has been in pre-trial detention since July 2020.

The Munich Higher Regional Court had urged the public prosecutor’s office to bring charges as soon as possible because Braun’s pre-trial detention had already been extended several times.

Before a trial can take place, the Munich Regional Court must decide whether the charges can be formally admitted.

It is not clear how Braun may plead. In civil proceedings before the Munich Regional Court, it appeared that Braun believes that the missing €1.9 billion actually exists.

Besides Braun, the key figure in the affair is the former head of sales Jan Marsalek, who fled abroad in the summer of 2020 and has been on the run ever since. Marsalek has not yet been charged.

There were numerous allegations of wrongdoing at Wirecard over the years, and the scandal was eventually uncovered by the British Financial Times.

Braun was personally ruined by the collapse of his company, as he had invested almost all his wealth in Wirecard shares.