Celebrate King's Day with TNW 🎟 Use code GEZELLIG40 on your Business, Investor and Startup passes today! This offer ends on April 29 →

This article was published on June 23, 2020

Wirecard’s former CEO arrested over those missing billions

Wirecard allegedly cooked the books for years


Wirecard’s former CEO arrested over those missing billions

Wirecard’s former CEO Markus Braun has been arrested after turning himself in on Monday evening.

Braun resigned last week after auditors failed to locate 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in revenue, money that the German fintech firm later admitted most likely “doesn’t exist.”

Wirecard stock crashed almost 90% since the missing billions were first announced, with more than $12 billion wiped from its market value in just three days.

[Read: Wirecard’s missing billions: Do they exist, or did Germany just get its own Enron?]

Braun has been detained on suspicion of inflating Wirecard’s balance sheet and revenues in a bid to solicit more money from both customers and investors, according to DW.com.

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

This is a developing story. More to come.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with