Wirecard, a payments firm, has filed for insolvency after a large scandal that caused its shares to dive 80%. The German firm disclosed that there was a massive hole of €1.9bn missing in its accounts. Former CEO Markus Braun has been arrested and accused of inflating the company’s finances to look more appealing to investors.
The firm’s creditors will likely lose billions of euros as a result of the scandal. Last week, auditors refused to sign off on the firm’s company accounts after being unable to locate the massive missing amount. The firm boasts 6,000 staff in 26 countries, and initially claimed the money was held in accounts in the Phillippines, however, it has come to light that the money may have never existed in the first place.
