Business & Finance

Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun was arrested for a 2nd time in relation to the company’s $2 billion accounting scandal

2 months ago Amanda T. Noriega

Reuters

  • Wirecard’s former chief executive Markus Braun has been rearrested in Munich as German prosecutors dug deeper into allegations of fraud at the fintech firm.
  • Two other executives — revealed by the Financial Times as Wirecard’s former finance boss, Burkhard Ley, and Stephan von Erffa, ex-head of accounting — were also arrested.
  • Former chief operating officer, Jan Marsalek, has likely escaped to Russia with the “clear help of Russian intelligence,” two officials told Business Insider. 
  • Wirecard filed for insolvency a month ago soon after revealing an amount of 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) was missing from its balance sheet, and likely never existed.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun has been arrested for the second time as German prosecutors probed further into a fraud investigation surrounding the company’s reputedly inflated balance sheet.

Two other executives — named by the Financial Times as

… Read More

Tesla posts surprise Q2 profit, ramping up cash despite coronavirus

2 months ago

Tesla (TSLA) posted a profit in the second quarter, defying Wall Street estimates after the electric car-maker delivered more vehicles than expected in the quarter despite virus-related disruptions.

Here were the main results from Tesla’s Q2 report, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

  • Revenue: $6.04 billion vs. $5.4 billion expected vs. $6.35 billion Y/Y

  • GAAP earnings per share: 50 cents, vs. GAAP loss per share of $1.06 expected and GAAP loss per share of $2.31 Y/Y

  • Free cash flow: $418 million, vs. outflow $617.9 million expected

Tesla’s second-quarter results came on the heels of an incredible 280% stock rally for the year to date as investors bet on the company’s long-term prospects, with the coronavirus pandemic weighing more heavily on established auto competitors. The near-fourfold increase in Tesla’s stock made it the second-best performer in the Nasdaq 100 after Moderna (MRNA), and rocketed Tesla’s market

… Read More

Troll Token? Why DeFi Yield Farmers Are Now All About YFI

2 months ago

A new governance token in decentralized finance (DeFi) is captivating yield farmers’ attention. Its creator didn’t set aside any of the tokens for himself and he insists the new token has no monetary value.

Still, that hasn’t stopped it from trading as high as $2,374 a pop, according to CoinGecko.

YFI is the governance token for Yearn.Finance, a site that performs a variety of functions for DeFi users, moving their assets in and out of different liquidity pools in order to find the best yields. Its name may also be a reference to an unflattering internet acronym.

Related: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Clings to $9,200 While Ethereum Transactions Soar

Read more: What Is Yield Farming? The Rocket Fuel of DeFi, Explained

“Each of these systems have control mechanisms, configurable fees, maintenance controls, and rules that can be modified. Thus far, these have been managed by us,” Yearn’s creator,

… Read More

German Finance Minister Knew of Wirecard Issues a Year Before Collapse

2 months ago

(Bloomberg) — German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was aware of potential market manipulation at Wirecard AG almost a year and a half before the company collapsed, putting pressure on a key figure in Angela Merkel’s government.

Financial watchdog BaFin informed Scholz in February 2019 about the case “because of the suspicion of a violation against the prohibition of market manipulation,” according to a report by the Finance Ministry seen by Bloomberg.

His early knowledge of the allegations swirling around Wirecard increases scrutiny on the highest-ranking Social Democrat in Merkel’s coalition and lays bare the delicate political dynamics just over a year before the next election.

Presented to the heads of the parliamentary finance committee on Thursday evening, the report creates a new opening for critics who accuse German authorities of being too lax by failing to pursue fraud allegations of a company that aspired to be a leading light in

… Read More

German finance minister points to regulatory failures in Wirecard scandal

2 months ago

By Holger Hansen

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said lawmakers need to quickly determine how to tighten regulation in the wake of an accounting scandal at payments company Wirecard that has tarnished the reputation of Germany’s financial watchdog.

The Wirecard case “raises critical questions about supervision of the company, in particular with regards to accounting and balance sheet control,” Scholz told Reuters on Tuesday.

“It appears that neither auditors nor regulators were effective here,” he added.

The comments were an about-face from a brief statement he made on Monday, in which he said regulators had worked hard and done their job.

Wirecard had said on Monday that 1.9 billion euros ($2.15 billion) it had booked in its accounts likely never existed, a black hole that has led to the arrest of its chief executive and that threatens to engulf the company.

Scholz said that any mistakes made

… Read More

German finance company Wirecard files for insolvency amid accounting scandal

2 months ago Amanda T. Noriega

German financial technology company Wirecard is filing for insolvency after an accounting scandal that led to the arrest of its former chief executive earlier this week.

The payment systems provider said it would make the filing at a district court in Munich “due to impending insolvency and over-indebtedness”.

It added in a brief statement that it is evaluating whether insolvency applications also have to be filed for its subsidiaries.

Markus Braun resigned as CEO on Friday after the company said that auditors could not find accounts containing 1.9 billion euros (£1.69 billion).

On Monday, Wirecard said it had concluded that the money probably does not exist, and Braun turned himself in to prosecutors hours later.

Markus Braun is under investigation (Matthias Schrader/AP)
Markus Braun is under investigation (Matthias Schrader/AP)

Braun was arrested on suspicion of market manipulation and inflating financial numbers, and later freed on bail

Adding to the damage to Germany’s corporate reputation was the reaction

… Read More

You may have missed

How to Max Out on the Deals Offered by Coupon Code Discount

23 hours ago Amanda T. Noriega

Use Costume Supercenter Coupons to Get Discounts for Children Costumes

2 days ago Amanda T. Noriega

Can Be QQQ Stock A Obtain at the Moment

2 days ago Amanda T. Noriega

Why Selling Your EBook Through a Print Publisher Means Profit

2 weeks ago Amanda T. Noriega

Important Facts to Earn Desired Property Investments

2 weeks ago Amanda T. Noriega