“No chance of success”
Ex-Wirecard boss withdraws appeal in dispute with insurer
September 22, 2023, 5:18 p.m
Former Wirecard boss Markus Braun has been in custody for years. In order to finance his countless lawsuits, he enters into a legal dispute with the insurance company Swiss Re. After a court dismissed his lawsuit, Braun appealed. Now he is retreating.
The former CEO of the bankrupt company Wirecard, Markus Braun, has withdrawn his appeal in the legal dispute with his manager liability insurance. The 4th Civil Senate of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court had previously informed the manager that his appeal had “no prospect of success,” as a court spokeswoman said.
In mid-July, the 9th Civil Chamber of the regional court dismissed a lawsuit with which the 53-year-old Austrian wanted to force the insurer Swiss Re by means of an interim injunction to provide the agreed coverage amount of 10 million euros for his lawsuits. The manager appealed against this.
However, the Higher Regional Court confirmed the assessment of the first instance. In its decision on costs, the Senate emphasized that after a summary examination there was no insurance cover due to an exclusion clause contained in the insurance contract. In addition, Braun is not entitled to an interim injunction because almost three years have passed since the insurance company refused benefits without Braun having initiated main proceedings against it.
Markus Braun has been in custody for almost three years. In the largest fraud case in German post-war history, Braun and two other former Wirecard managers are charged on suspicion of commercial gang fraud. According to the indictment, they have falsified Wirecard’s balance sheets since 2015 and damaged lending banks by 3.1 billion euros. According to Braun’s account, the missing billions were embezzled by criminals in the company without his knowledge and without his involvement.