Wirecard CEO resigns as $2 billion goes missing

[Anthony]

More than $2 billion has gone missing at one of Europe's most vaunted tech companies. If it's not found quickly, the digital payments firm may never recover. Wirecard delayed the publication of its 2019 financial results Thursday, saying its auditors couldn't account for €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) in cash. Then on Friday, the German company's CEO, Markus Braun, resigned. Investors reacted by pushing shares in the company down by more than 75% over two trading sessions....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...ly/ar-BB15IVMv

[universal4]

Resigning is not enough, and I wonder how fast HE will go missing.

Rick
Universal4

[TheGooner]

The CEO has been cEO for 18 years. Resigning doesn't help him or the company here.

[Malikbhai]

Quite a number of online casinos and forex brokers used them.

[wonderpunter]

Not good. most Euro focused casinos depend on wirecard, might see a few operators go down with this.. losing 2 billion is not a small problem

[Christiaan]

How can nobody notice that 2 billion is "missing"? And that in 1 year? A company like this should have audits at least once a year to publish their yearly results.

[wonderpunter]

How can nobody notice that 2 billion is "missing"? And that in 1 year? A company like this should have audits at least once a year to publish their yearly results.

They forged bank documents in the Philippines apparently, the bank wouldn't sign off.. I doubt it was the first time

[ocreditor]

If he resigned I guess he have his reasons, maybe because he knows something about the missing cash...

[Cash Bonus]

I'm a bit confused and I'm not sure if anyone else noticed it, too. Reading from the very top of this news article, it says "Wirecard redistributes responsibilities internally and disempowers CEO Markus Braun." But, if you read further down, it says "Then on Friday, the German company's CEO, Markus Braun, resigned."

So I'm not sure if they fired him or he actually resigned from his position. This point needs more clarification.

In any case, that's a huge loss and I doubt they'll find a way to recover the funds. A very dire situation for everyone involved

I wonder if there might be anymore to this story and if anyone can shed any light on this.

[drifter8]

THis los and lack of fudns with WireCard wil be a huge problem.

I have to agree with Wonderpunter , that many euro casinos counted on them.

Resigning of the CEO, will not clear and sove any problem at all.

[insiderjoe]

2 billion is the amount that hardly gets unnoticed.

Resigning will not fix the situation. Damage has been done already.

[universal4]

Looks like early investigations pointed to at least some if not all the missing funds were to have been deposited in 2 Philippine banks. Both of those banks have stepped forward and claim that the money was never deposited there.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-w...-idUSKBN23S03Z

It will be interesting to see if the Philippine part of the scheme was used to try and cover up the missing money, or if that part was used to divert the majority of the funds all at once.

Rick
Universal4

[LowFlyingBird]

https://www.wired.com/2016/05/insane...st-heres-know/

Unrelated but interesting story none the less.

Bank Heist Hacking story from 2016.
Hackers made off with $81 million (USD), and tried for closer to 1B.

The relevance here is how $81 million was easily moved from a Bangladesh Bank to multiple Philippine Banks with no repercussions.
One account ended up in a Philippine bank account of Eastern Hawaii,owned by a Chinese Casino owner Kim Wong.

Follow up here claims Mr. Wong paid back $4.63 million of the $21 million he received, says money was owed to him.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN0WY4UY

[MichaelCorfman]

I created a poll based on what is happening with Wirecard about whether folks keep funds in payment processor wallets.

You can see the poll here:

How long do you keep funds in a payment processor account

Michael

[Strider1973]

You can see the poll here:

xxx

Michael, the link currently doesn't work.

The link doesn't work.

If wirecard goes down, are Neteller / Skrill affected by this, or are they not using their service?

[universal4]

Thanks Strider, I fixed the link to the poll

Rick
Universal4

[Pokerface]

The plot keeps thickening and will be interesting to to see what happens over the next few days and weeks.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/wi...083745862.html

Interesting timeline:
https://www.ft.com/content/284fb1ad-...5-0709b36868db

[gamblingvista]

Paxum and Payoneer are using prepaid cards issued by Wirecard, so all card funds have been frozen.

[universal4]

Well it is confirmed that account holders have had their funds frozen

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wirec...164537099.html

The regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had ordered Newcastle-based Wirecard Card Solutions "to cease all regulated activities in order to further protect customer money"

And the lawyer accused of creating the fraudulent accounts says he had no idea it was for them and states he was framed, which is a possibility.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/filipino-...190745001.html

Rick
Universal4

[818sfv]

I have a Payoneer card, Udemy.com the online learning platform has Payoneer as one of the payment options. Luckily I usually transfer my payments out, but left a bit in there. Frozen for now. Tried to withdraw the funds to my bank and no dice. Luckily Paypal is another payment option, so immediately switched so my payments go to Paypal going forward.

Important update regarding your Payoneer card

As you may have heard, Wirecard AG unexpectedly filed for insolvency. As a result, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) temporarily froze all card activity. Progress is being made to lift the freeze soon, which will allow you to access the funds on your Payoneer card.
In the meantime, all incoming payments will be loaded onto your Payoneer currency balance where they’ll be safe and accessible. We are taking urgent steps to resolve this situation.
We will keep you updated and appreciate your patience.