Investigators are charging two more Wirecard executives.
In the Wirecard trial, two more board members have come under scrutiny by Munich prosecutors. They have so far not been involved or only as witnesses to implicate the missing Marsalek. Financial investigators, however, want to bring them to court on charges of embezzlement.
The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office has targeted two more board members of the insolvent payment processor Wirecard and has filed charges against former CFO Alexander von Knoop and Susanne Steidl, who was responsible for product development on the board, the court announced. Investigators accuse the two of embezzlement in several cases, and von Knoop also of aiding and abetting embezzlement. Von Knoop and Steidl are said to have approved loans and other payments to obscure business partners "without further ado," despite some being behind on interest payments and the repayment of loans being uncertain.
"This resulted in several hundred million euros in damages to Wirecard AG," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. The 12th Economic Criminal Chamber of the Munich Regional Court will decide whether the two will have to face trial. Wirecard declared insolvency in June 2020 after alleged funds of over 1.9 billion euros on the Philippines turned out to be non-existent. The collapse of the former DAX company is one of the biggest financial scandals in German post-war history.
Former CEO Markus Braun, then deputy CFO Stephan von Erffa, and Wirecard's representative in Asia, Oliver Bellenhaus, are currently on trial in Munich for fraud and falsifying accounts. According to the prosecutor's office and the insolvency administrator, the missing billions were fabricated. Bellenhaus has largely admitted to the charges, while Braun and von Erffa deny them.
Steidl and von Knoop blame Marsalek solely
Former board member Jan Marsalek, who was at the center of the manipulations as the responsible for the Asia business, had fled after the collapse and is believed to be in Russia. In late 2023, the prosecutor's office filed charges against von Knoop's predecessor, Burkhard Ley. Among other things, he is accused of falsifying accounts, market manipulation, fraud, and embezzlement. Ley denies any guilt. In the case of von Knoop and Steidl, it is only about embezzlement.
The law firm representing Steidl did not want to comment on the indictment. As a witness in the trial against Braun, it had implicated Marsalek. He had made von Knoop angry with the transfer of funds to the alleged trust accounts in Singapore to the Philippines. She herself had no insight into the third-party business in Asia. Von Knoop was not available for a statement. He has not yet appeared as a witness in the trial. Before a parliamentary investigative committee, he had testified that he had not known about any criminal activities. Marsalek was solely responsible for this in the board.
In this context, the investigation against two more board members, Susanne Steidl and former CFO Alexander von Knoop, involves charges of embezzlement. The Munich prosecutors have accused them of approving loans and payments to questionable business partners without proper scrutiny, leading to significant financial losses for Wirecard AG.
