{"id":248842,"date":"2022-12-20T11:45:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T17:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=248842"},"modified":"2022-12-20T13:12:36","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T19:12:36","slug":"wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Wirecard Trial Star Witness Blames CEO for \u2018Massive Criminal Act\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former head of Wirecard\u2019s Dubai subsidiary admitted his complicity Monday in the widescale accounting fraud that led to the spectacular collapse of the German fintech giant. At the same time, he pointed the finger at his codefendant, ex-CEO Markus Braun.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver
Oliver Bellenhaus center, with mask, pinned the blame on ex-CEO Markus Braun, foreground right, blurred, for the fraudulent actions that led to the collapse of Wirecard. (Image: Handelsblatt)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oliver Bellenhaus told a Munich courtroom that Braun was an \u201cautocratic chief executive\u201d who was obsessed with creating the illusion that Wirecard was more successful than it really was.<\/p>\n

The allegations were made in the ongoing trial<\/a> of three former Wirecard executives, whom German prosecutors accuse of committing a \u201cmassive criminal act\u201d that led to the demise of the payments company.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wirecard began life in the 1990s as a processor of online gambling and porn transactions. It grew into the leading light of German fintech, with a market cap of \u20ac22 billion ($25 billion) in 2018. But all was not as it seemed.<\/p>\n

Missing $2B<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In June 2020, auditor Ernst & Young reported that \u20ac1.9 billion (US$2 billion) in cash balances mentioned in Wirecards\u2019 accounts appeared to be missing. This money was supposed to be sitting in trustee accounts at two Philippine banks. But the banks denied Wirecard was a client.<\/p>\n

Days later, the company admitted the money was missing and \u201clikely never existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The defendants in the case face charges including fraud, embezzlement, and market manipulation, and could be jailed for up to 15 years if convicted. They are accused of cooking the books to artificially inflate the company\u2019s value and defraud investors and lenders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bellenhaus told the court he deeply regrets his behavior, adding that he acted out of blind loyalty to Braun.<\/p>\n

“Braun gave the marching orders and everyone followed,” <\/strong>he said.<\/p>\n

Last week, Braun\u2019s lawyer, Alfred Dierlamm, described Bellenhaus as an unreliable witness and accused him of being the main perpetrator of the fraud, along with Jan Marsalek, who is currently a fugitive.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Shadow Operation\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Dierlamm said his client was unaware of the accounting irregularities, adding that Bellenhaus and Marsalek were running a \u201cshadow operation\u201d that siphoned off money into shell accounts.<\/p>\n

\n

Dierlamm also noted his client was the company\u2019s biggest shareholder and had never sold his shares \u2013 in fact, he had increased his holding shortly before the company\u2019s collapse. This demonstrated he had not attempted to profit personally from the inflated share value and appeared oblivious to impending catastrophe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dierlamm contends that German prosecutors were under pressure to find a scapegoat for the fraud because Marsalek has slipped through their grasp.<\/p>\n

Marsalek fled Germany as Wirecard collapsed, traveling to Belarus and then onto Moscow. He is believed to have connections to Russian intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former head of Wirecard\u2019s Dubai subsidiary admitted his complicity Monday in the widescale accounting fraud that led to the spectacular collapse of the German fintech giant. At the same time, he pointed the finger at his codefendant, ex-CEO Markus Braun. Oliver Bellenhaus told a Munich courtroom that Braun was an \u201cautocratic chief executive\u201d who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":248844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,60],"tags":[84010,84181,84011],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWirecard Trial Star Witness Blames CEO for \u2018Massive Criminal Act\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Oliver Bellenhaus tells Munich court ex-CEO Markus Braun was an \u201cautocratic chief executive\u201d obsessed with painting Wirecard as a success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wirecard Trial Star Witness Blames CEO for \u2018Massive Criminal Act\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oliver Bellenhaus tells Munich court ex-CEO Markus Braun was an \u201cautocratic chief executive\u201d obsessed with painting Wirecard as a success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T17:45:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T19:12:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Bell-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"674\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/\",\"name\":\"Wirecard Trial Star Witness Blames CEO for \u2018Massive Criminal Act\u2019\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Bell-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-20T17:45:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-20T19:12:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Oliver Bellenhaus tells Munich court ex-CEO Markus Braun was an \u201cautocratic chief executive\u201d obsessed with painting Wirecard as a success.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-trial-star-witness-blames-ceo-for-massive-criminal-act\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Bell-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Bell-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674,\"caption\":\": Oliver Bellenhaus center, with mask, has pinned the blame on ex-CEO Markus Braun, foreground right, blurred, for the fraudulent antics that led to the collapse of Wirecard. 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