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For background on Wirecard collapse today, these are the two key stories.
In October, we wrote that sales and profits appeared fraudulently inflated.
https://www.ft.com/content/19c6be2a-ee67-11e9-bfa4-b25f11f42901
In December, we wrote that "trustee accounts" were included in cash balances. https://www.ft.com/content/845b0dce-1836-11ea-9ee4-11f260415385
In October, we wrote that sales and profits appeared fraudulently inflated.
https://www.ft.com/content/19c6be2a-ee67-11e9-bfa4-b25f11f42901
In December, we wrote that "trustee accounts" were included in cash balances. https://www.ft.com/content/845b0dce-1836-11ea-9ee4-11f260415385
The rise and fall of Wirecard
with the indefatigable @OlafStorbeck https://www.ft.com/content/149cd24c-7a0d-4ef0-a46c-fece79124322
with the indefatigable @OlafStorbeck https://www.ft.com/content/149cd24c-7a0d-4ef0-a46c-fece79124322
The Wirecard fraud centres on faked documents.
Where did we start last year?
Whistleblower allegations of forged invoices and bogus contracts at its Asian headquarters
https://www.ft.com/content/d51a012e-1d6f-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65
Where did we start last year?
Whistleblower allegations of forged invoices and bogus contracts at its Asian headquarters
https://www.ft.com/content/d51a012e-1d6f-11e9-b126-46fc3ad87c65
Attention today is moving to the Philippines, which is where the amazing @stef_palma went last year to look for Wirecard's partners and found a bemused sailor
https://www.ft.com/content/cd12395e-4fb7-11e9-b401-8d9ef1626294
https://www.ft.com/content/cd12395e-4fb7-11e9-b401-8d9ef1626294
Where were the German regulators?
from @OlafStorbeck and @GuyChazan
"My impression was for a long time that Wirecard was seen as this delicate homegrown plant that needed to be protected,” said Fabio De Masi, a Berlin lawmaker
with the Die Linke party. https://www.ft.com/content/f62f7f56-3d45-492c-ae88-172948d21eb8
from @OlafStorbeck and @GuyChazan
"My impression was for a long time that Wirecard was seen as this delicate homegrown plant that needed to be protected,” said Fabio De Masi, a Berlin lawmaker
with the Die Linke party. https://www.ft.com/content/f62f7f56-3d45-492c-ae88-172948d21eb8
Wirecard faces "impending insolvency". FT story coming shortly. New readers wanting an overview of the rise and fall start here https://www.ft.com/content/284fb1ad-ddc0-45df-a075-0709b36868db
Wirecard collapsed on Thursday as the once high-flying German payments service provider announced it would file for insolvency following revelations of a multiyear accounting fraud. https://www.ft.com/content/ac949729-6167-4b6c-ac3f-f0aa71aca193
We made a video to explain the Wirecard story:
"At times I thought I was going crazy." https://www.ft.com/video/37cb70e6-72df-471e-943d-2d32c2785650
"At times I thought I was going crazy." https://www.ft.com/video/37cb70e6-72df-471e-943d-2d32c2785650
Significant new Wirecard story by @OlafStorbeck @Tabby_Kinder and @stef_palma:
EY failed for more than three years to request crucial account information from a Singapore bank where Wirecard claimed it had up to €1bn in cash — a routine audit procedure https://www.ft.com/content/a9deb987-df70-4a72-bd41-47ed8942e83b
EY failed for more than three years to request crucial account information from a Singapore bank where Wirecard claimed it had up to €1bn in cash — a routine audit procedure https://www.ft.com/content/a9deb987-df70-4a72-bd41-47ed8942e83b
ICYMI - I wrote a profile of Markus Braun with @OlafStorbeck
https://www.ft.com/content/ec986d0e-5d92-4e66-a595-0f8645f1aaf0
and the Philippines is investigating Wirecard's partners there, as well as the trail of Jan Marsalek https://www.ft.com/content/80708a7e-bbba-4c19-b3e0-a4b1d49e2b85
https://www.ft.com/content/ec986d0e-5d92-4e66-a595-0f8645f1aaf0
and the Philippines is investigating Wirecard's partners there, as well as the trail of Jan Marsalek https://www.ft.com/content/80708a7e-bbba-4c19-b3e0-a4b1d49e2b85
EY is preparing for a backlash - @Tabby_Kinder shares the company's talking points prepared for partners https://www.ft.com/content/ae73160b-fd9a-4313-89f9-8fd70183158e
One big aspect of the Wirecard fallout is on fintech broadly, which likely faces more regulatory scrutiny and questions of trust after a freeze of the group's UK operations hit millions of accounts at other operators https://www.ft.com/content/dbe16ce4-f154-4985-a210-279fa1f53e24
New story - Wirecard relied on a small number of customers for the majority of its genuine sales, according to an internal company spreadsheet that shows for the first time the real business behind the fintech group’s facade. https://www.ft.com/content/7c466351-02fe-4d66-85a1-53d012de7445
In case customers of Monzo have any concerns given recent events, the group stopped using Wirecard in 2018.
(That was after Wirecard and Monzo were proud winners of the Best Prepaid Product of the Year at The Card and Payments Awards 2017.)
(That was after Wirecard and Monzo were proud winners of the Best Prepaid Product of the Year at The Card and Payments Awards 2017.)
New twist in the FT Investigation -
Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek bragged to London traders about his access to secret documents by showing them the formula for Novichok, the world's deadliest nerve agent. Free to read story: https://www.ft.com/content/941a9a2e-88df-4a66-9b3c-670bb7eb4d87
Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek bragged to London traders about his access to secret documents by showing them the formula for Novichok, the world's deadliest nerve agent. Free to read story: https://www.ft.com/content/941a9a2e-88df-4a66-9b3c-670bb7eb4d87
ASTOUNDING Wirecard story from @samgadjones, Paul Murphy and @helenwarrell
It was early 2018 when Jan Marsalek held a meeting in his palatial home in Munich to talk about a new project he was interested in: arming and training 15,000 Libyan militiamen. https://www.ft.com/content/511ecf86-ab40-486c-8f76-b8ebda4cc669
It was early 2018 when Jan Marsalek held a meeting in his palatial home in Munich to talk about a new project he was interested in: arming and training 15,000 Libyan militiamen. https://www.ft.com/content/511ecf86-ab40-486c-8f76-b8ebda4cc669
What did the Wirecard board know, and when did they know it?
McKinsey found "non-existent" controls at the group's biggest business last year.
Thomas Eichelmann's audit committee hired PwC to finish the job with a narrower remit. Story by @OlafStorbeck https://www.ft.com/content/bfa1cafc-d8fa-4745-adef-ed99e88cb78f
McKinsey found "non-existent" controls at the group's biggest business last year.
Thomas Eichelmann's audit committee hired PwC to finish the job with a narrower remit. Story by @OlafStorbeck https://www.ft.com/content/bfa1cafc-d8fa-4745-adef-ed99e88cb78f
Six years ago I met Leo Perry for a coffee. He wanted to talk about an obscure German technology company whose accounts did not add up. https://www.ft.com/content/ecc4f12f-9c3a-412f-92d1-eba810a6fb9b
More amazing detail on the final months at Wirecard from @OlafStorbeck
A totally normal €35m short term loan to the CEO https://www.ft.com/content/2650cf4a-4ca5-4f99-9916-cb5cae4bde73
A totally normal €35m short term loan to the CEO https://www.ft.com/content/2650cf4a-4ca5-4f99-9916-cb5cae4bde73
EY prepared an unqualified audit opinion on Wirecard’s accounts in early June, conditional on a few actions from the company that collapsed weeks later
https://www.ft.com/content/568d5f9f-ebbe-48fc-a7b7-0ebf34c3cb83
Scoop from @OlafStorbeck
EY said “it was ultimately the work of EY Germany that exposed the fraud."
https://www.ft.com/content/568d5f9f-ebbe-48fc-a7b7-0ebf34c3cb83
Scoop from @OlafStorbeck
EY said “it was ultimately the work of EY Germany that exposed the fraud."
Money Laundering - enter the ’Ndrangheta
Wirecard processed payments for a Maltese online casino that was later revealed to have laundered money for one of Europe’s most dangerous mafias.
Scoop from @MilesMJohnson and me https://www.ft.com/content/b3eb9a37-ed8a-4218-9064-685b181740f0
Wirecard processed payments for a Maltese online casino that was later revealed to have laundered money for one of Europe’s most dangerous mafias.
Scoop from @MilesMJohnson and me https://www.ft.com/content/b3eb9a37-ed8a-4218-9064-685b181740f0
And ICYMI Saturday.
A German financier who evangelises for bitcoin investing and psychedelic drugs received €13m for brokering SoftBank’s controversial $1.1bn investment in Wirecard.
Scoop, with @BondHack & @ArashMassoudi https://www.ft.com/content/3c561ccf-2e95-46f7-ac43-a8e04db21dfe
A German financier who evangelises for bitcoin investing and psychedelic drugs received €13m for brokering SoftBank’s controversial $1.1bn investment in Wirecard.
Scoop, with @BondHack & @ArashMassoudi https://www.ft.com/content/3c561ccf-2e95-46f7-ac43-a8e04db21dfe
Chris Bauer, a German businessman responsible for one of Wirecard’s biggest sources of stated profits has been reported dead a month after Philippine authorities announced he was under investigation over the payments company’s collapse. https://www.ft.com/content/a22f372e-87bc-4cfd-8caf-052a98dc873f
So many amazing details of the final months inside Wirecard, reconstructed here by @OlafStorbeck
As you read it ask: if I were on the board, at what point would I have called the police? https://www.ft.com/content/6a660a5f-4e8c-41d5-b129-ad5bf9782256?sharetype=blocked
As you read it ask: if I were on the board, at what point would I have called the police? https://www.ft.com/content/6a660a5f-4e8c-41d5-b129-ad5bf9782256?sharetype=blocked
There will be a full parliamentary inquiry into the Wirecard collapse - latest from @GuyChazan https://www.ft.com/content/6ac23b50-d9cb-4ba5-98b7-5fa40e7a5f8e
The BaFin boss conceded “we didn’t see the wood for the trees” and “for too long we relied on formal instruments”. He said the regulator was “too late” in finding the alleged “criminal activity”. By @MAmdorsky https://www.ft.com/content/d8831178-a24a-4a59-abdb-b68d311b3ae1
"Have you been arrested yet?"
This is the tale of the spies, the hacking, the put-up job, the sock puppets, the fancy restaurants, the digital handbag and the many, many professionals taking Wirecard's money to fight and intimidate its critics https://www.ft.com/content/745e34a1-0ca7-432c-b062-950c20e41f03
This is the tale of the spies, the hacking, the put-up job, the sock puppets, the fancy restaurants, the digital handbag and the many, many professionals taking Wirecard's money to fight and intimidate its critics https://www.ft.com/content/745e34a1-0ca7-432c-b062-950c20e41f03
Well look at that, the Munich Prosecutors have dropped the case against @stef_palma and me. https://www.ft.com/content/4ebd9032-d3d1-4a9e-976c-d1235448ee20
