Markus Braun
Austrian businessman, chief executive of Wirecard until June 2020
- Entries
- 8
- On the record
- 5
- Stories
- 1
- Latest entry
- Dec 8, 2022
The record
Markus Braun ran Wirecard as chief executive while it grew from a Munich-area payments start-up into a DAX 30 company valued at €24 billion at its peak, the BBC reported. He resigned with immediate effect on June 19, 2020, a day after EY declined to sign off on the company's annual accounts, and on June 30 the supervisory board terminated his employment contract for cause.
After his first arrest in June 2020, a Munich court suspended the warrant on June 23 against bail of €5 million and weekly reporting to police, the tech news site heise reported. Munich prosecutors filed a 474-page indictment in March 2022 charging him and two other former managers with market manipulation, embezzlement and commercial gang fraud, saying banks had provided €1.7 billion in credit and €1.4 billion in bonds were unlikely to be repaid.
His trial opened on December 8, 2022, in a high-security courtroom at Stadelheim prison, where he was being held in pre-trial custody. Braun denies any wrongdoing. His co-defendants are Oliver Bellenhaus, former head of Wirecard's Dubai subsidiary, and Stephan von Erffa, former head of accounting. Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer considered his number two, was not in the dock. The sources read for this record do not report a verdict.
Roles and honours on the record
Every entry, newest first
- Filed
Trial opened in Munich; Braun denies wrongdoing, the BBC and Reuters reported. Wirecard admits €1.9B likely didn't exist; Braun denies fraud
- Filed
Prosecutors charged Braun with market manipulation, embezzlement and commercial gang fraud, Al Jazeera reported. Wirecard admits €1.9B likely didn't exist; Braun denies fraud
- Reported
Braun surrendered to Munich prosecutors and was arrested on suspicion of inflating Wirecard's sales, Der Spiegel reported. Wirecard admits €1.9B likely didn't exist; Braun denies fraud
Stories in this file
The record, entry by entry
- 2020-06-19 Official Wirecard announced that Braun had resigned as chief executive with immediate effect, after EY declined to certify the annual accounts over a lack of evidence for €1.9 billion in trust account balances. Der Spiegel report (German)
- 2020-06-23 Ruled The Munich local court suspended the arrest warrant against Braun on condition of €5 million bail and weekly reporting to police. heise online report (German)
- 2020-06-30 Official Wirecard's supervisory board terminated Braun's employment contract with immediate effect for cause. Wirecard AG announcement (German)
- 2022-03-14 Filed Munich prosecutors announced a 474-page indictment charging Braun and two other former managers with market manipulation, embezzlement and commercial gang fraud, citing €1.7 billion in bank credit and €1.4 billion in bonds unlikely to be repaid. Al Jazeera report
- 2022-12-08 Filed Braun's trial opened at Stadelheim prison in Munich alongside Oliver Bellenhaus and Stephan von Erffa. Braun, held in pre-trial custody, denies any wrongdoing. BBC News report