The Munich prosecutors’ office filed a series of charges against former Wirecard AG Chief Executive Officer Markus Braun, Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper
Braun was accused of fraud, misappropriation of corporate assets, accounting fraud and market manipulation, the newspaper said. Braun’s attorney Alfred Dierlamm didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
Charges were also filed against Oliver Bellenhaus, previously a managing director of a Dubai-based Wirecard unit, and Stephan von Erffa, the former chief accountant and deputy chief financial officer, the newspaper said, citing people with knowledge of the matter it didn’t name. The prosecutor’s office and lawyers of the defendants didn’t respond to requests for comment by Handelsblatt, the newspaper reported.
Bellenhaus’ attorney Nicolas Fruehsorger and von Erffa’s lawyer Sabine Stetter didn’t immediately reply to emailed requests for comment by Bloomberg News.
Braun, who has been in custody since July 2020, was arrested after Wirecard acknowledged that 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) it had listed as assets probably didn’t exist. The company had pulled financial results for 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 and eventually filed for bankruptcy, prompting Germany’s biggest corporate scandal. Bellenhaus has admitted his role in the Wirecard scheme and is
