Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard (2022) Netflix Review - A modern financial crime

image from Neflix

Skandal is a documentary about the rise and fall of Wirecard a German fintech giant and Dan Mccrum, the Financial Times journalist who exposed it.

image from wikipedia

Wirecard was a German payment processor (like Paypal) and financial services company which was listed in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and part of the DAX which consists of blue chip companies. At it's peak, it had total assets of close to 6b euros and share price of 191 euros per share.

Since before its ascent the company was followed by rumors and allegations of accounting malpractice. The company was suspected of money laundering and inflating its balance sheet. In 2016, the Zatarra Report was released. The writers were intimidated and spied upon and the charges were denied by the company claiming it was the work of shortsellers/conspiracy theorists. Curiously, with all the rumors and allegations, the regulators including the BaFin, Germany's version of the SEC, would take Wirecard's side.

Led by its CEO, Marcus Braun and COO Jan Marsalek, the Company rose to be Germany's top financial company even overtaking Deutsche Bank at one point.

Marcus Braun (image from wikipedia)

The documentary chronicles the Wirecard's rise to the top and eventual discovery of their wrong doings. It was a financial crime thriller in real life which had me glued to my screen. It was chilling for a billion dollar blue chip company to hire thugs to threaten journalists and even shortsellers.

!
In the end, through the efforts of Dan Mccrumb it was found that 1.9m euros was missing. Marcus Braun was arrested while Jan Marsalek disappeared and is a wanted man.

Jan Marselek (image from wikipedia)

I can only imagine the effort of Dan Mccrum who pursued the story of Wirecard. I am curious to read his book which has more details. He was threatened and spied upon due to his investigation. There was no help from authorities. On the contrary, the Financial Times was sued.

Dan Mccrum (image from wikipedia)

It was indeed curious that in the age of increased scrutiny from regulators (after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis), it was suspicious how Wirecard was not discovered sooner. Even the missing 1.9b euros could have been discovered earlier since cash confirmation is a standard audit procedure and yet the auditors did not do it? The documentary leaves a lot more questions like who else were involved? How deep were their connections? Where is Jan Marsalek?

image from Refinitiv/Financial Times