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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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In Autumn 2019,
I got a call from a source.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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He asks me,
"Have you ever looked into Wirecard?"
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"The payment processor? No."
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"It's a very strange company."
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"Companies are being set up."
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"Money comes in, money goes out."
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That is totally spooky.
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He'd been called by foreign friends
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who used to work in intelligence agencies,
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and they warned him,
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"Are you interested in Wirecard?"
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"Keep your hands off it."
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Mr. Braun, reports about your business
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read like a financial thriller.
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Bogus sales,
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balance sheet manipulations,
many allegations.
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The former COO,
Jan Marsalek, is on the run.
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The biggest fraud scandal
in German history.
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There's
an international manhunt for Jan Marsalek.
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It's unbelievable how something
like this can survive for so long.
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It was clear to me
this was going to be a huge story.
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Scammers take advantage
of people's desires.
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In Germany, the desire was,
"We want to be at the front of the pack."
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Germany's industry is extremely successful
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but very old, very traditional.
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These famous German brands
like Siemens, Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen,
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these are all very old companies.
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That's why German politicians
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and German business people
are often asked,
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"Where are actually your new companies?"
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We want a major, global,
digital champion of our own
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like in Silicon Valley.
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The German Google, the German Facebook.
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And Wirecard played
on that desire beautifully.
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Wirecard was like the German PayPal.
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Wirecard the processor
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for online trade, online shops.
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They make sure when I buy something,
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the money gets from my credit card
to the online retailer.
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There's a company founder dressed
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in a black turtleneck
with a neat turn of phrase…
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…who presents himself as a visionary.
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The "Steve Jobs of the Alps."
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Wirecard is one of
the fastest-growing
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financial commerce platforms.
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Wirecard jumped
on the digital train in the '90s
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that continues to pick up speed,
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and now Wirecard
has even overtaken Deutsche Bank
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with their worth placed
at over €20 billion.
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A symbol
for the new era of the finance sector.
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This was a company on the rise.
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It grew unlike any other company
we'd seen in Germany.
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And that rise, that immense growth,
led many people to believe in it.
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New, successful,
global, profitable
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and German politicians were proud
to be able to say,
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"Hey. We have a FinTech company!"
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When the chancellor went to China,
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she actually campaigned
for Wirecard in 2019 with Xi Jinping.
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Everyone in Germany
believed in this company.
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No one would have believed
that this was the work of gangsters.
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Outside of Europe,
we see a growth of 25%
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strongly driven by new regions,
by developing regions of Asia.
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My name is Tobias Bosler,
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and I have been,
for many years, a short seller.
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Most people invest
thinking a share price will rise.
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A short seller differs from an investor
by making money when a share price falls
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and loses money when it increases.
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I investigated Wirecard for two years.
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I understood its business model perfectly.
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It handled payments for online businesses
in pornography and online gambling,
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but it wasn't illegal.
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What would you call them?
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- Are you joking?
-I'm not joking.
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The poker market in the US
was 50% of the global poker market.
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But that all changed in 2006
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when a new law in America made it illegal
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to handle payments
for US citizens playing poker.
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So Wirecard lost a major source of income.
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But, in spite of this law,
the profits of Wirecard kept rising.
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What company is able to do that?
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This can't be right.
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In Germany,
short sellers have a bad reputation.
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The perception is because they are betting
on the share price dropping,
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they are actively seeking
to destroy companies.
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Jobs are lost and that can't be good.
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The Zatarra Report
wasn't seen as credible.
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The criticism was always,
"What kind of report is this?"
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"There isn't enough evidence
to back up its claims."
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"It's just mud-slinging
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because German companies
do not make mistakes."
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It was seen very strongly as an attack
on Germany itself, on German companies.
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A few weeks
after I opened the short position,
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I got a call from the Wirecard lawyer.
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He says, "You are short-selling Wirecard."
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I thought, "How did you figure that out?"
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He read me all the transactions.
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Date, time, amount, rate.
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He knew everything.
Then he says, "We need to talk."
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He arrived with two thugs.
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They looked exactly
as you imagine thugs to be.
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Straightaway they pushed me
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and punched the wall with full force.
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I admit I was really scared.
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What company sends a bunch of thugs
to an investor's office?
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After that,
I stopped looking into Wirecard.
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I let it be.
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And no one else looked closely
into Wirecard,
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except Dan McCrum.
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My dear shareholders…
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Well, if I find a weak spot, but I'm…
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It's not working. It's not cold enough.
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Marsalek is a completely different type.
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Extremely charming,
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very approachable, a great communicator.
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Everything Braun didn't have,
Marsalek had,
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which is why they were a great team.
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I think that very few people knew
who Jan Marsalek really was.
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He is certainly
at the center of this scandal.
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He is the one
who made sure that the turnover
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was always the way his boss,
Braun, wanted.
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The German Stock Exchange
is richer because of one company.
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The payment-processing company,
Wirecard, from Aschheim near Munich
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has made the leap
into the stock market premier league.
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Wirecard's share price last year
was €77.40.
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Today it stands at €189.40.
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Our figures tell a story
of strong growth.
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How our business is valued
is a question for the investors.
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Wirecard has shaken up
the German stock exchange this week
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and kicked the Commerzbank
out of the elite DAX index.
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A lot of investors
believe in German values,
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and now it has the DAX seal of approval.
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So a lot of people thought a DAX company
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would be tightly regulated
by the German authorities.
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Who wouldn't be thrilled
to have money invested in Wirecard?
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-What's with the glasses?
- Best without glasses.
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I only heard about
the Financial Times' coverage secondhand.
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NEW ATTACK ON WIRECARD
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It was the typical bias.
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They said, "It is a foreign conspiracy
against a German company."
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"A German company is the victim
and must be protected."
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Wirecard had hired
a famous lawyer in Bavaria.
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The lawyer said
to the public prosecutor, Baumler-Hosl,
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that Wirecard is under attack
by short sellers
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and its very existence is in jeopardy.
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Hildegard Baumler-Hosl contacted
the German financial regulator.
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The regulator BaFin then said,
"We need to protect Wirecard."
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And banned short-selling
of Wirecard shares.
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And even filed criminal charges
against Dan McCrum and Stefania Palma.
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This financial thriller
continues with the latest punch-up
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between Wirecard and the Financial Times.
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In February,
there were new articles and allegations
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and the share price fell again.
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At the end of March,
new accusations were published
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and the share price collapsed once again.
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A BILLIONAIRE ON THE DEFENSIVE
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- Sound running.
-Okay. Let's start.
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How do you personally go about scandals,
confusion, chaos?
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Have you ever thought about resigning?
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I've never thought
about resignation.
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Can you exclude the possibility
of more dirty laundry airing
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that will put the share price
under pressure?
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We firmly reject
these serious allegations.
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We think these allegations
are mainly market speculations.
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At the Frankfurt stock exchange,
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Wirecard has announced its annual results,
increasing its profits by 35%,
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an increase of €350 million,
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and says it will continue
to grow this year.
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Drink as much as you can take, here!
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-Hey. I'm Nick Gold.
- Hello, Nick. How are you?
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What sort of size business
were you thinking of doing?
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At the moment,
they are looking at investing €50 million.
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Okay.
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There was a short seller, Nick Gold,
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who met with an investor
who secretly recorded him.
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This is as good as it gets in terms of--
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-We know the article's coming.
-Okay.
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And I bet it's gonna be today.
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We know now that this investor
was actually a private detective
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who was hired
by someone associated with Wirecard.
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I'm Jorg Schmitt
from the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
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I'm the chief editor
of the investigations team.
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I was at my desk when I suddenly
got a call from an unknown number.
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On the other end was a young woman.
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She said,
"Are you interested in Wirecard?"
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"Do you know Prinzregentenstrasse 61?"
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"It's the secret office of Jan Marsalek."
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Even colleagues closest
to Marsalek didn't know
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that there was this second office
in the Prinzregentenstrasse.
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He would meet
with a very illustrious circle of people,
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do business, and host wild parties.
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It's Marsalek's boy gang, I'd say.
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We always find Martin W.,
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who had been
in the Austrian secret service.
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El-Obeidi,
a former Libyan intelligence officer.
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Stani, a Russian who was supposedly
in Munich visiting his sick mother,
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but we think he was probably an FSB man,
a Russian secret-service agent.
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So suddenly
we had three former intelligence agents
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who were in and around
the Prinzregentenstrasse.
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And the thing is the Prinzregentenstrasse
is not just anywhere in Munich.
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It is directly opposite
the Russian consulate.
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There is obviously
a secret-service connection.
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That electrified me.
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Why might Marsalek be so interesting
to intelligence agencies?
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Wirecard is a company
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through which there are billions
of transactions every year.
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And these payments are gold mines
for the secret services
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because they show who could be compromised
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because their creditcard information
could show porn usage,
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brothel visits, or whatever else.
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To have a source like Marsalek
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who is always
on the move around the world,
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that makes a lot of sense.
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Vienna is sadly mostly
an inviting terrain
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for intelligence officers,
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01:02:52,280 --> 01:02:57,000
for dubious characters,
spies, economic spies.
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Border security in Libya was a topic that,
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for a COO of a company like Wirecard,
wasn't normal in the slightest.
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As time went on, I asked myself,
"What does he want in Libya?"
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"And why does he seem
to be getting support
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from within the Austrian government
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for a project
that doesn't have humanitarian aims?"
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If you ignore negative trends
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or if you let immigration go unchecked,
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things will go downhill very quickly.
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It is logical that if Russia
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wants to destabilize Europe,
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they would try to create anxiety
over supposed waves of refugees
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to create a narrative
that heats the debate again.
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Marsalek has very good contacts in Russia.
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That's why it's plausible
that Jan Marsalek could have been trying
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to set something up for the Russians.
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It's criminal to wiretap journalists.
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It's criminal
to hack their email accounts.
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The worst part was that this intimidation
was quite successful.
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The Financial Times had launched
an internal inquiry into Dan McCrum,
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and Wirecard made the most of this time,
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and its market price kept rising.
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They even got the German Chancellor
to promote the company in China.
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All this happened in those months
when the Financial Times
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didn't write anything critical
of Wirecard.
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Dr. Markus Braun, you've decided
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to carry out an external audit
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due to the allegations
that the FT have made.
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The question is, "Why only now?"
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Well, we reacted very quickly.
248
01:14:37,280 --> 01:14:41,120
The newspaper article was published
only over a week ago.
249
01:14:42,560 --> 01:14:46,400
At first, Braun didn't want this inquiry.
250
01:14:46,480 --> 01:14:50,680
We reject these allegations 100%.
251
01:14:51,280 --> 01:14:55,480
People at Wirecard must have known
that this is going to be troublesome.
252
01:14:55,560 --> 01:14:58,160
When will the auditors present
their report?
253
01:14:58,800 --> 01:15:03,320
I don't want to jump the gun,
but we think within a few months.
254
01:15:03,400 --> 01:15:07,680
We believe
we will have results very quickly.
255
01:15:32,640 --> 01:15:34,480
My name is Joachim Giehl.
256
01:15:35,280 --> 01:15:37,760
I am Markus Braun's neighbor.
257
01:15:40,360 --> 01:15:42,640
I always had the impression
258
01:15:42,720 --> 01:15:45,320
that this man is under
a massive amount of pressure.
259
01:15:48,520 --> 01:15:51,560
He greeted nobody as his neighbor.
260
01:15:51,640 --> 01:15:53,800
He always just got in his car.
261
01:15:53,880 --> 01:15:55,840
No hello, no nothing.
262
01:16:00,760 --> 01:16:05,960
There was one day, around 8:30 p.m.,
263
01:16:06,040 --> 01:16:09,000
I parked my car in the garage.
264
01:16:09,600 --> 01:16:15,200
It was dark, and I saw Markus Braun
at the entrance to our building.
265
01:16:17,040 --> 01:16:21,920
I saw him in the lamplight,
and he looked extremely tense.
266
01:16:23,920 --> 01:16:28,960
He was surrounded by some men
whom I didn't recognize.
267
01:16:31,760 --> 01:16:33,240
They seemed out of place.
268
01:16:35,200 --> 01:16:37,600
They didn't look like businesspeople.
269
01:16:37,680 --> 01:16:43,000
They looked like people
who work as security, bodyguards,
270
01:16:43,080 --> 01:16:45,280
a group of thugs…
271
01:16:45,360 --> 01:16:47,120
…or people like that.
272
01:16:48,680 --> 01:16:52,240
They didn't look
like they were there to protect him.
273
01:16:52,320 --> 01:16:56,560
Rather, I thought they were there…
274
01:16:58,200 --> 01:16:59,360
…to do a job.
275
01:17:59,240 --> 01:18:01,640
It was called "Project Panther,"
276
01:18:01,720 --> 01:18:04,360
a plan for a hostile takeover.
277
01:18:04,960 --> 01:18:09,440
A large consulting company
put a document together
278
01:18:09,520 --> 01:18:12,920
which showed how it could make sense
279
01:18:13,000 --> 01:18:15,480
to merge an old bank
with a new tech company.
280
01:18:17,080 --> 01:18:20,760
The "Wirebank,"
or whatever it would have been called.
281
01:18:22,320 --> 01:18:24,760
The idea was
282
01:18:24,840 --> 01:18:27,760
if you merged these two companies,
283
01:18:27,840 --> 01:18:31,920
with the Deutsche Bank balance
being so much bigger than Wirecard's,
284
01:18:32,000 --> 01:18:36,440
that then maybe the fraud at Wirecard
would somehow get swept under the rug.
285
01:20:47,960 --> 01:20:52,960
Auditors can
no longer locate €1.9 billion
286
01:20:53,040 --> 01:20:55,680
that are said to be
in escrow accounts in Asia.
287
01:20:55,760 --> 01:20:57,920
The two banks
in the Philippines
288
01:20:58,000 --> 01:21:00,440
where the €1.9 billion was supposed to be
289
01:21:00,520 --> 01:21:02,920
said today
that they had no business relations
290
01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:04,680
with the payments processor.
291
01:21:04,760 --> 01:21:06,240
The documents were faked.
292
01:21:29,400 --> 01:21:34,160
The share price plunged by 70%.
293
01:22:05,360 --> 01:22:07,520
Ladies and gentlemen,
294
01:22:07,600 --> 01:22:10,720
on behalf
of the management board of Wirecard,
295
01:22:10,800 --> 01:22:12,920
I would like to give
the following explanation.
296
01:22:13,000 --> 01:22:15,960
The press conference that night
was like The Muppet Show.
297
01:22:17,400 --> 01:22:19,480
Braun reads from the teleprompter.
298
01:22:20,920 --> 01:22:23,040
The death sentence
has already been handed out,
299
01:22:23,120 --> 01:22:27,680
and he's still making it seem
as if he's going to announce
300
01:22:27,760 --> 01:22:30,760
an amazing quarterly report next month.
301
01:22:31,360 --> 01:22:36,120
Right now,
it cannot be ruled out that Wirecard
302
01:22:36,200 --> 01:22:39,520
has become the damaged party
303
01:22:39,600 --> 01:22:43,040
in a fraud case
of considerable proportions.
304
01:23:01,680 --> 01:23:05,800
Where is the COO
of the insolvent payment processor,
305
01:23:05,880 --> 01:23:08,760
Wirecard, the Austrian, Jan Marsalek?
306
01:23:26,200 --> 01:23:28,760
An agent always has an escape route.
307
01:23:30,840 --> 01:23:35,960
We knew that Marsalek was in the office
until that Friday afternoon.
308
01:23:36,600 --> 01:23:38,920
He supposedly said
309
01:23:39,000 --> 01:23:41,960
he had to go to the Philippines
to clear the whole thing up.
310
01:23:44,400 --> 01:23:48,360
He went for dinner
with Martin W. that evening.
311
01:23:50,360 --> 01:23:53,000
Martin W., who he knew
from the Prinzregentenstrasse
312
01:23:53,080 --> 01:23:56,120
and who used to be
in the Austrian secret service
313
01:23:56,200 --> 01:24:00,320
together with an Austrian,
right-wing politician
314
01:24:00,400 --> 01:24:02,240
booked Marsalek a flight.
315
01:24:03,720 --> 01:24:07,360
Marsalek paid close to €8,000 in cash…
316
01:24:08,920 --> 01:24:10,760
and then his trail disappeared.
317
01:24:13,840 --> 01:24:15,400
He didn't go to the Philippines.
318
01:24:15,480 --> 01:24:16,480
It doesn't make sense.
319
01:24:16,560 --> 01:24:21,280
He couldn't have entered the country
because of quarantine regulations.
320
01:24:22,480 --> 01:24:25,160
There are databases
where you can check flight data.
321
01:24:25,840 --> 01:24:31,000
Since 2015,
he flew at least 60 times to Russia.
322
01:24:31,520 --> 01:24:33,920
And there was one flight
323
01:24:34,000 --> 01:24:38,800
from a small airport near Vienna to Minsk.
324
01:24:41,040 --> 01:24:42,480
It's not far from Moscow.
325
01:24:43,040 --> 01:24:48,320
The border to Russia is not controlled,
and that's where the trail is lost.
326
01:24:49,520 --> 01:24:52,120
After that, it's just rumors.
327
01:24:56,040 --> 01:24:57,960
We don't know for certain if Marsalek
328
01:24:58,040 --> 01:25:01,400
was actually a secret-service informant
or not.
329
01:25:03,480 --> 01:25:05,960
Jan Marsalek was
very well-connected
330
01:25:06,040 --> 01:25:08,680
in the secret service parallel world,
331
01:25:08,760 --> 01:25:12,120
and that's why I think he won't be
that easy to find.
332
01:25:15,760 --> 01:25:18,360
We know
that he's online occasionally
333
01:25:18,440 --> 01:25:22,080
via an old Telegram account.
334
01:25:24,800 --> 01:25:26,280
I can check again.
335
01:25:29,080 --> 01:25:33,880
He's been online every few months.
336
01:25:35,480 --> 01:25:40,880
The last time was on May 27, 2021.
337
01:25:48,520 --> 01:25:50,760
The German parliament has started
338
01:25:50,840 --> 01:25:52,960
a political inquiry into Wirecard,
339
01:25:53,040 --> 01:25:55,960
one of the biggest scandals
of the German republic.
340
01:25:56,040 --> 01:26:00,760
A financial disaster for those
who invested their money in Wirecard.
341
01:26:02,360 --> 01:26:07,440
It was
the first DAX-listed company to go bust.
342
01:26:20,280 --> 01:26:23,520
I think that Wirecard's inner circle
343
01:26:23,600 --> 01:26:27,440
who knew what was really going on
was very small.
344
01:26:28,600 --> 01:26:29,720
Certainly Marsalek.
345
01:26:30,600 --> 01:26:34,720
The fascinating question is,
"What did Braun know about all this?"
346
01:26:43,400 --> 01:26:46,040
He wasn't emotional.
He was very tense.
347
01:26:47,320 --> 01:26:50,120
And then he gave
a short opening statement.
348
01:26:51,000 --> 01:26:55,120
"All I can say… is we were all deceived."
349
01:26:56,160 --> 01:26:57,360
"I'm a victim."
350
01:26:58,720 --> 01:27:02,000
And then his lawyer said
he won't answer any further questions.
351
01:27:02,680 --> 01:27:07,080
He really sat there for three hours
and didn't answer.
352
01:27:29,920 --> 01:27:34,160
I think so far,
we only know the tip of the iceberg.
353
01:27:34,240 --> 01:27:39,400
Unless Jan Marsalek turns up somewhere
and breaks his silence,
354
01:27:39,480 --> 01:27:41,880
only then will we get the full story.