Crypto Card Issuer Wirecard CEO Resigned “With Immediate Effect”

Markus Braun, CEO of German payments giant Wirecard, has resigned “with immediate effect,” as the crypto card issuer announced on June 19. James Freis will take his place as interim CEO.

The replacement came only one day after Wirecard’s admitted that Ernst & Young identified an amount of EUR 1.9 billion (USD 2.1 billion) lacked sufficient audit evidence and indicated Wirecard forged spurious balance confirmations to deceive EY. That amount represents about 25% of the firm’s consolidated balance sheet total.

Wirecard postponed the release of its annual and consolidated financial statements 2019, which was originally scheduled on June 18. Shares of the company slumped, when the market opened on June 18, and has shrunk by approximately 63%, as of the writing.

The announcement did not explain the reason for the resignation but said it was under mutual consent.

By Yiran Dai

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