Wirecard CEO Gets Day in Court After Two Years Behind Bars
- Trial against Markus Braun and two others starts in Munich
- Court scheduled 100 days of hearings until the end of 2023
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Markus Braun makes his first public appearance in court today, more than two years after his high-flying digital-payment company Wirecard AG collapsed under the weight of fraud allegations, wiping out billions in shareholder value and destroying Germany’s efforts to breed a new technology champion rivaling Silicon Valley.
The Munich Regional Court opened the case against Braun and two co-accused on Thursday in a spacious courtroom located in the Stadelheim prison, among Germany’s largest prison complexes. With more than three dozen journalists registered to follow the proceedings, the trial is set to stretch well into 2024 as the presiding five judges pours over material collected in more than 700 binders of documents.