In Munich, former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun is fighting to clear his name in court. On Thursday, he presented a PowerPoint analysis attempting to demonstrate that Wirecard’s controversial third-party acquiring business in Asia was real. However, prosecutors’ key witness, Oliver Bellenhaus, dismissed this claim, insisting that no such business ever existed. The presiding judge remained unconvinced, as Braun failed to provide definitive answers to crucial questions. Here’s the latest update from Scam-Or Project.
Wirecard’s Financial Trail: Braun vs. Bellenhaus
Braun outlined a detailed financial report, claiming that Bellenhaus—who is also a co-defendant and state witness—embezzled large sums of company funds. According to Braun, since 2013, significant amounts were funneled into a select group of fraudulent companies.
Bellenhaus, who worked for Wirecard in Dubai, paints a different picture, alleging that Braun was directly involved in orchestrating fictitious transactions worth billions. Braun, however, insists that no fake transactions took place—only large-scale embezzlement carried out by Bellenhaus and his associates.
Judge Markus Foedisch remained skeptical. He questioned why the perpetrators would go through the trouble of creating fake transactions when they could have simply siphoned funds from legitimate deals. Braun’s explanation failed to satisfy the court.
PowerCash21 and Wirecard’s Shadow Network
In his testimony, Braun mentioned PowerCash21—a Wirecard-linked entity—though he refrained from going into detail. PowerCash21 was initially founded by former Wirecard executives Dietmar Knoechelmann and Ruediger Trautmann and now operates under the name Payabl, continuing Wirecard’s high-risk payment processing model.
For industry insiders, Knoechelmann and Trautmann are considered key figures in Wirecard’s early expansion. They reportedly made millions selling companies and customer portfolios to Wirecard. Even after their departure, they allegedly remained active in Wirecard’s shadow operations for years, as highlighted in Fraser Perring’s Zatarra Report.
The Guilty Plea: A Deeper Look at Wirecard’s Origins
Dietmar Knoechelmann, a German national who later obtained Israeli citizenship, was convicted in Israel in November 2016 for credit card fraud related to the ICC-Cal money laundering case. He admitted to deceiving Visa, Mastercard, and U.S. regulators by facilitating tens of millions of dollars in payments to illegal online gambling platforms targeting American users.
Knoechelmann’s fraudulent activities reportedly took place between 2008 and 2010. From 2006 to 2009, he was a director and CEO of Wirecard Payment Solutions Holdings Limited in Ireland. In 2007, he sold that company—then called Gateway Payments Solutions Holdings Limited—to Wirecard for a reported $42 million.
Gaps in the Trial’s Narrative
The Wirecard trial has faced criticism for its limited scope. Prosecutors have focused primarily on events from 2015 onward, neglecting earlier developments that are crucial for understanding the full picture. This omission may be due to legal constraints, such as statutes of limitation, but it has resulted in an incomplete and potentially misleading narrative.
Wirecard experts, including fraud investigator @csfa, who has been following the trial closely, have called for the judge to review the Zatarra Report. The report details how Wirecard’s former top executives, Knoechelmann and Trautmann, built the company’s operations. According to the report, Braun was fully aware of their activities.
Call for Information
If you have any information regarding Wirecard, its network, or individuals involved, you can share it confidentially through our whistleblower platform, Whistle42.