The long-awaited Wirecard trial officially began on December 8, 2022. The central question: Who is truly responsible for the scandal?
Key figures in the courtroom include Markus Braun, Wirecard’s founder and former CEO, Oliver Bellenhaus, managing director of Wirecard Dubai, and Stephan von Erffa, the former head of accounting. The prosecution alleges that Braun and his associates ran Wirecard as a criminal enterprise.
The court has scheduled 100 days of hearings, which will take place in an underground courtroom in Munich.
Key Trial Information
- Case Name: Wirecard
- Location: Munich Stadelheim
- Presiding Judge: Markus Foedisch
- Lead Prosecutor: Matthias Buehring
- Defendants:
- Markus Braun
- Oliver Bellenhaus
- Stephan von Erffa
- Defense Lawyers:
- Alfred Dierlamm (for Markus Braun)
- Nicolas Frühsorger & Florian Eder (for Oliver Bellenhaus)
- Sabine Stetter (for Stephan von Erffa)
The Charges & The Trial
At the heart of the indictment is Wirecard’s Third-Party Acquiring (TPA) business, which allegedly contained €1.9 billion in escrow accounts—funds that never actually existed.
In October 2019, the Financial Times uncovered that large portions of Wirecard’s TPA business were fraudulent, and the bank statements confirming those billions were forgeries.
The three defendants now face charges including:
✔ Fraud
✔ Embezzlement
✔ Accounting Manipulation
✔ Market Manipulation
The Munich prosecutor’s office claims Wirecard’s financial statements have been fraudulent since 2015.
Unlike trials in some countries, Germany does not use a jury system for criminal cases. Instead, the verdict will be determined by a panel of three professional judges, led by Markus Foedisch, and two lay judges (citizens serving as deputies).
The prosecution team, led by Matthias Buehring, anticipates that just reading the charges aloud will take approximately five hours.
The Defendants’ Strategies
Braun and Bellenhaus have been in pre-trial custody for over two years—held in separate correctional facilities to prevent collaboration before the trial.
- Markus Braun’s Defense:
Braun denies wrongdoing and portrays himself as a victim. He claims that ex-COO Jan Marsalek (now a fugitive) and Oliver Bellenhaus created a “shadow structure” that funneled Wirecard’s TPA profits into their own pockets—without his knowledge. - Oliver Bellenhaus – The Key Witness:
Unlike Braun, Bellenhaus admitted his involvement and is now cooperating with prosecutors. His lawyer, Florian Eder, states:
“He played a role in the Wirecard scheme and acknowledges his guilt. The trial will expose how the company operated as a closed system.” - Stephan von Erffa – The Silent Defendant:
Released on bail in 2021, von Erffa has chosen to remain silent for now. However, he is believed to have admitted to falsifying documents requested by KPMG during their special audit of Wirecard.
What About Wirecard’s Shadow Structure?
From Scam-Or Project perspective, the indictment misses a crucial part of Wirecard’s story.
It focuses only on the period after 2015—with an emphasis on Asia. However, Wirecard’s shadow operations date back to the early 2000s, well before 2010.
Two key figures in this early phase were Ruediger Trautmann and Dietmar Knoechelmann, both former Wirecard executives who later founded Payabl (formerly PowerCash21).
These two are accused of building Wirecard’s shadow operations by:
- Selling questionable businesses and fake transaction volumes to Wirecard.
- Setting up financial structures that enabled large-scale fraud.
Even after leaving Wirecard in 2010, they allegedly maintained influence over the company. Short-seller Fraser Perring claims their businesses, including Gateway Payment Solutions, PowerCash21, and Inatec, laid the foundation for Wirecard’s shadow financial network.
What Comes Next?
With 100 days of trial ahead, a major question remains:
Will this early period of Wirecard’s history be exposed in court?
If the prosecution focuses solely on the post-2015 fraud, key players may escape scrutiny. However, if the court digs deeper, the full extent of Wirecard’s deception may finally be revealed.
Share Your Information
If you have any insights into Wirecard, its operators, or its financial networks, submit them through our whistleblower system, Whistle42.