To the outside world, Wirecard presents itself as a fantastic company. In fact, however, the mountain of debt is gigantic: an expert report by the insolvency administrator shows that only a few parts of the company can "even show their own income".
The insolvent payment service provider Wirecard has apparently accumulated ever higher losses for years and is overindebted with 2.8 billion euros. This emerges from the report by the insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé, which is available to "Süddeutscher Zeitung", WDR and "Handelsblatt". Only a few of the group's more than 50 companies worldwide have "even generated their own income".
Week after week, Wirecard burned the money that banks had lent to the group and invested in, report WDR and "SZ". Before the bankruptcy in June it was ten million euros per week.
As early as 2017, the loss of the group should have amounted to 99 million euros, as it continues. In 2018 the minus was 190 million euros, in 2019 around 375 million euros. In the first three months of the year alone, losses of 86 million euros were added.
Insolvency administrator examines legal steps
According to reports, Wirecard has accumulated 3.2 billion euros in liabilities, report WDR, "SZ" and "Handelsblatt". This would be offset by 26.8 million euros in freely available bank balances.
According to the report, insolvency administrator Jaffé is examining legal steps against former responsible parties, especially against ex-CEO Markus Braun and the fleeting ex-CFO Jan Marsalek. He is also thinking about claims against Wirecard's auditor, EY. The auditor had audited the balance sheets from 2011 to 2018.
Wirecard filed for bankruptcy at the end of June. Previously, the company had to admit that the balance sheet of 1.9 billion euros, which were supposed to be in Asian bank accounts, could not be found. The Munich I public prosecutor's office is investigating the case. It assumes professional gang fraud.
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