WIRECARD: The Spy, the Billions and the Fraud Nobody Saw Coming

Описание: In June 2020, Wirecard - one of Germany's most celebrated companies, listed on the DAX, worth 20 billion euros - collapsed in a single week. 1.9 billion euros turned out not to exist. And the man who ran the division where the money disappeared was on a private jet to Moscow within 24 hours.

Jan Marsalek was the COO of Wirecard. He was also, according to multiple European courts and intelligence agencies, a Russian intelligence asset running a spy network across Europe from his office in Munich - directly opposite the Russian consulate.

He is still there. Free. Untouchable.

This is the most extraordinary corporate fraud in European history. And it may not have been just a fraud.

What you'll learn:

How Wirecard built a 20 billion euro empire on a payment structure nobody could audit
Why Ernst and Young signed off on 1.9 billion euros in accounts that didn't exist for ten years
How Jan Marsalek cultivated connections to Russian military intelligence, Libyan militias and the Wagner Group while serving as COO of a DAX company
Why Germany's financial regulator protected Wirecard from its critics rather than investigating the company
How Marsalek was extracted to Moscow by Russian intelligence within 24 hours of the collapse
Why six Bulgarians were convicted in London in 2024 for running a spy network under his direction
Why this story — unlike every other Business Untold story — does not have an ending


Chapters:
00:00 Hook — Moscow 2025. Jan Marsalek is still here.
01:45 Part 1 — The Shady Business
05:35 Part 2 — The Fraud Mechanism
08:08 Part 3 — The Collapse
10:03 Part 4 — What We Can Learn
12:22 Outro

Recommended reading:

Money Men by Dan McCrum — the definitive account of the Wirecard investigation by the FT journalist who broke the story while being investigated for doing so


Image Credits:
Renardo la vulpo (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Aschheim-Dornach, Einsteinring 31 v N, 3, ret Wirecard“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Leo Molatore (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Wirecard headquarters, Aschheim (49556187461)“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Ank Kumar (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Frankfurt Borse (Ank Kumar) 09“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Travelarz (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „ITB2016 Wirecard Travelarz“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Froztbyte (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Ernst & Young three flags at EY-NMADP 14-18 November 2022“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Jean-Luc Valentin (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Mf ey eschborn CF015352 bearbeitet2“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Leo Molatore (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Markus Braun“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

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