Who was the CEO of Wirecard arrested for fraud in 2020?

Markus Braun was the CEO of Wirecard arrested for fraud in 2020.

Braun led the German payments company from 2002 until resigning on 19 June 2020, after auditors could not verify €1.9 billion supposedly held in trustee accounts. German authorities arrested him on 22 June after he turned himself in. Wirecard filed for insolvency three days later.

The scandal centered on allegations of accounting manipulation, market deception and inflated profits. Braun denied wrongdoing, while prosecutors accused him and other former managers of helping present nonexistent funds and revenues as genuine. The case became one of Germany’s largest corporate scandals.

A frequent mix-up is Jan Marsalek, Wirecard’s former chief operating officer. Marsalek was another central figure in the scandal, but he was not the company’s CEO; Braun held that title when the fraud allegations became public.