Former Wirecard CFO accused of fraud – Kommersant
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Munich prosecutors have brought charges against Burkhard Ley, the former chief financial officer of Wirecard, which collapsed in 2020. Mr Ley is accused of, among other things, market manipulation, commercial and organized fraud, and breach of trust, reports Financial Times.
Wirecard found itself at the center of a scandal in June 2020 when EY discovered a shortfall in Wirecard accounts of €1.9 billion. After the investigation began, it became known that Wirecard regularly inflated its sales, hid losses and committed other serious violations. Shortly after the scandal began, the company went bankrupt and its CEO, Markus Braun, was arrested.
According to prosecutors, as CFO and then advisor to the company’s board, Burkhard Ley, along with Markus Braun and other top managers, manipulated sales data in order to increase the price of the company’s shares on the market and attract funds from banks. Mr Lay’s lawyers have called the allegations baseless because they say he left Wirecard long before the main events leading to the scandal took place.
In March 2022, prosecutors charged Marcus Brown with several crimes: professional fraud committed by a group of individuals, embezzlement of company funds, manipulation of the company’s stock price, falsification of its financial statements. He faces up to 15 years in prison. In addition to the ex-head of the company, charges have been brought against two other former top managers of Wirecard. In addition, in April of this year, German authorities fined for €500 thousand to EY, which audited a German fintech company. The German regulator also banned the firm from entering into new audit contracts for organizations “of public interest” for two years.
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