Timeline: The rise and slide of Wirecard, a German tech winner

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Payments firm Wirecard collapsed last 12 months in Germany’s most important post-war fraud scandal. A parliamentary inquiry is in progress, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz thanks to testify in April.

The German government examined the probability of bailing out Wirecard just a few days prior to it collapsed, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The next timeline summarizes the developments that led to the collapse of the company, as effectively as vital moments since:

1999: Wirecard is founded in Munich.

2002: Markus Braun, previously a KPMG marketing consultant, can take more than as chief executive. [reut.rs/2WZDgER]

2005: Wirecard is shown on the Deutsche Boerse Frankfurt (Frankfurt Stock Exchange), Prime Typical segment.

2006: Consolidation of Wirecard Bank AG.

2007: Wirecard Asia Pacific set up.

2010: Jan Marsalek appointed Main Operating Officer at Wirecard.

2016: A detrimental report by brief sellers Zatarra Research alleges fraudulent action at Wirecard, expressing senior executives have fully commited money laundering offences, as well as defrauding Mastercard and Visa. [bit.ly/39HDepW]

2018: Wirecard joins the DAX blue-chip industry index, making it officially 1 of the 30 most worthwhile German corporations outlined on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

2019

Jan. 30: Wirecard denies a report in the Economical Times that a Wirecard government had employed cast and backdated contracts in a string of suspicious transactions that elevated queries about the integrity of the firm’s accounting practice. Wirecard identified as the report “wrong, inaccurate, misleading and defamatory”. [reut.rs/2PeqHRr]

Feb. 19: BaFin informs the finance ministry that it has requested an inquiry into Wirecard’s accounting, and is banning short-marketing in the company’s inventory.

March 28: Wirecard sues the FT about a collection of investigative studies that it explained made use of, and misrepresented, business enterprise secrets. [reut.rs/2X9I8qS]

Oct. 21: The firm hires KPMG to perform an unbiased audit to address allegations by the FT that its finance group experienced sought to inflate noted product sales and revenue.

Nov. 5: Wirecard announces it plans to take around China’s Allscore.

2020

Apr. 28: An impartial investigation by auditor KPMG finds that Wirecard did not give enough documentation to address all allegations of accounting irregularities built by the Economical Situations.

May perhaps 25: Publication of remaining 2019 effects is postponed for a third time.

June 18: Auditor EY refuses to indicator off Wirecard’s 2019 accounts as it was not able to ensure the existence of 1.9 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in money balances on belief accounts, symbolizing around a quarter of its equilibrium sheet.

June 19: Wirecard’s CEO Markus Braun quits as firm’s search for lacking money hits a useless conclude in the Philippines and it scrambles to protected a monetary lifeline from its financial institutions.

June 22: Wirecard claims that 1.9 billion euros it booked in its accounts most likely never existed.

June 22: The finance ministry examines offering Wirecard mortgage from point out bank KfW, documents noticed by Reuters display.

June 23: Wirecard’s previous manager Braun is launched on bail immediately after getting arrested on suspicion of falsifying the company’s accounts.

June 25: Wirecard files for insolvency, owing creditors pretty much $4 billion after disclosing a gaping gap in its guides.

June 29: A Munich court appoints Michael Jaffe to control the insolvency of Wirecard.

July 1: Law enforcement and public prosecutors raid Wirecard’s headquarters in Munich and 4 homes in German and Austria as they widen their investigation into the business.

July 2: The head of Germany’s fiscal watchdog calls the accounting scandal at Wirecard “a significant felony act”.

July 6: German prosecutors arrest the head of a Dubai-centered subsidiary of Wirecard.

July 9: German condition prosecutors begin investigating persons at Wirecard for suspected dollars laundering.

July 16: The former head of a Dubai-based mostly subsidiary of Wirecard, who was arrested before in July, admits wrongdoing to prosecutors for his purpose in a multi-billion-euro fraud.

July 22: German prosecutors arrest three former prime executives of Wirecard, together with Braun, stating they suspected them of masterminding a felony racket to bogus the company’s accounts and defraud creditors of billions of euros.

Sept. 1: German lawmakers launch a parliamentary inquiry into Wirecard.

2021

Jan. 29: Felix Hufeld, president of German economic watchdog BaFin, announces he is stepping down.

Feb. 2: Scholz announces he is supplying BaFin more powers to place and investigate misconduct at firms it supervises and make it extra agile.

Feb 24: The head of Germany’s accounting watchdog announces he is stepping down.

Late April: Merkel and Scholz are scheduled to testify to a parliamentary investigative committee about their part in the scandal.

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