- Prosecutors are suing two more Wirecard executives.
After over four years of investigations into the Wirecard scandal, the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office has indicted two more former board members of the collapsed Wirecard conglomerate in 2020. Investigators accuse former CFO Alexander von Knoop and Susanne Steidl, who was responsible for product development in the Wirecard board, of several cases of embezzlement amounting to hundreds of millions of euros for the former DAX company. The two are said to have been involved in board decisions to lend company funds without collateral to Wirecard business partners. The Munich I Regional Court must now decide on the admissibility of the indictment.
However, investigators do not believe that the two were involved in the alleged multi-billion euro fraud, for which former CEO Markus Braun and two other former Wirecard managers have been standing trial in Munich since December 2022. Lawyers for von Knoop emphasized that the former CFO had "at no time had knowledge of any activities detrimental to Wirecard AG and its shareholders by other responsible persons in the Wirecard group." "At no time did Mr. von Knoop have the intention or even the idea of harming companies in the Wirecard group in his actions." A spokesperson for Steidl said they could not comment on an ongoing procedure.
Steidl and von Knoop joined the Wirecard board in January 2018, long after investigators allege that Braun, along with numerous accomplices inside and outside the company, formed a criminal syndicate. Steidl, who like Braun and the former sales director Jan Marsalek, who went underground in 2020, is Austrian, also personally testified that she knew nothing of the fraud.
The alleged Wirecard syndicate, with Braun and Marsalek in key roles, is said to have inflated the payment service provider's accounts with fake transactions for years to keep the loss-making company afloat. According to the indictment, the main victims were the lending banks, with the prosecutor's office estimating the damage at around €3.2 billion. Braun has denied all charges since the trial began.
The main accusation: Lending without collateral
Even if Steidl and von Knoop were not aware of the multi-billion euro fraud, they are still accused of breaching their duties by lending company funds without any security. This includes a €100 million loan that Wirecard transferred to a Singapore-based company called Ocap in the spring of 2020, according to the prosecutor's office. Ocap was part of a complex web of companies through which Wirecard funds were allegedly shuffled before disappearing into unknown channels. In late 2023, the Munich I Public Prosecutor's Office had already indicted von Knoop's predecessor as CFO.
Despite being indicted for lending company funds without collateral to Wirecard business partners, which includes the €100 million loan to Ocap, investigators believe that former CFO Alexander von Knoop and Susanne Steidl were not involved in the multi-billion euro fraud that former CEO Markus Braun and other Wirecard managers are currently on trial for.
The allegations against Steidl and von Knoop, who joined the Wirecard board in 2018, relate to their involvement in approving loans without collateral, a practice that is still being examined as part of the Wirecard scandal investigations.
