Juliet Uduji
Former CEO of WireCard arrested in Germany after $2.1 billion Disappeared
The former CEO of Wirecard, a digital payment company, Markus Braun, has been arrested in Germany after $2.1 billion went missing in the company.
Munich prosecutors confirmed the arrest of Braun today on suspicion of possibly having inflated Wirecard’s balance sheet and sales through fake transactions with third parties in order to make the company more attractive to investors and customers.
Wirecard acknowledged on Monday that €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) in missing cash, which made up roughly a quarter of its assets, probably never existed in the first place.
The company withdrew its preliminary results for 2019, the first quarter of 2020 and its profit forecast for 2020.
Braun resigned as CEO on Friday, June 19, suggesting the company may have been the victim of a massive fraud.
The company was founded in 1999, which was once considered one of the most promising tech firms in Europe.
The company which has nearly 6,000 employees in 26 countries around the world; processes payments for consumers and businesses, and sells data.