Wirecard fraud scandal trial begins in Germany
STORY: Germany's biggest post-war fraud scandal entered the courts Thursday (December 8).
The trial of Wirecard's former chief executive Markus Braun began in Munich.
Braun and two other high-ranking managers of the former blue-chip company face a number of charges.
They are accused of fraud and market manipulation.
If found guilty they could be jailed for up to 15 years.
Braun has previously denied wrongdoing and accused others of running a shadow operation without his knowledge at the payments company.
Anne Leiding is from the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office
"All three defendants worked together to make Wirecard appear as an extremely successful FinTech company. When in fact, at least according to the prosecution's investigation, there were actually only losses since 2015."
The trial comes two years after Wirecard collapsed and shocked the country's financial establishment.
The company's downfall came after a fairy tale rise.
Founded in 1999, Wirecard became a showpiece for a new type of German tech firm able to take on the giants.
It was once worth $28 billion, and displaced Commerzbank in Germany's DAX blue-chip index.
The appearance of success finally fell apart in June 2020 when the firm was forced to admit 1.9 billion euros, or around $2 billion, was missing from its balance sheet.
With it, Wirecard became the first ever DAX member to file for insolvency, owing creditors almost $4 billion.
A verdict in the trial is not expected before 2024 at the earliest.
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