If you've been following the Wirecard story today, you've heard the big news: 1.9 billion Euros that were supposedly in a trust have gone "missing," and the trustee in charge of it has been suspended.
Here's what's getting a lot less play: activist short sellers have been warning about Wirecard's fraudulent accounting practices for *years*. The money likely isn't missing; rather, it never existed in the first place. In effect, it appears Wirecard engaged in accounting fraud to inflate its revenues, to the tune of the last seven years of its net profit.
What's worse, this apparently just scratches the surface of the hijinks that Wirecard has been up to. As Invisibilia reported a few days ago, it appears that Wirecard hired a black hat hacking firm in India to harass the activists who accused it of fraud. "Private investigators" followed the short sellers and showed up to intimidate them at their homes. German regulators have not only systematically refused to go after Wirecard, but in fact have gone after the short-sellers instead. Wirecard is involved in/connected to the electronic gambling and pornography industries, so I would not be surprised to learn this is all mafia-connected. The activist short sellers accuse them of money laundering. Financial Twitter is widely comparing Wirecard's revenue fraud to Enron, but this situation feels more like if Enron's CEO were Tony Soprano.
Bottom line, the truth will out and I think it's only a matter of time before Wirecard is delisted. Short sellers are often accused of betting against propsperity, but in this case it's safe to say they are betting on justice, transparency, and the rule of law.
Here's what's getting a lot less play: activist short sellers have been warning about Wirecard's fraudulent accounting practices for *years*. The money likely isn't missing; rather, it never existed in the first place. In effect, it appears Wirecard engaged in accounting fraud to inflate its revenues, to the tune of the last seven years of its net profit.
What's worse, this apparently just scratches the surface of the hijinks that Wirecard has been up to. As Invisibilia reported a few days ago, it appears that Wirecard hired a black hat hacking firm in India to harass the activists who accused it of fraud. "Private investigators" followed the short sellers and showed up to intimidate them at their homes. German regulators have not only systematically refused to go after Wirecard, but in fact have gone after the short-sellers instead. Wirecard is involved in/connected to the electronic gambling and pornography industries, so I would not be surprised to learn this is all mafia-connected. The activist short sellers accuse them of money laundering. Financial Twitter is widely comparing Wirecard's revenue fraud to Enron, but this situation feels more like if Enron's CEO were Tony Soprano.
Bottom line, the truth will out and I think it's only a matter of time before Wirecard is delisted. Short sellers are often accused of betting against propsperity, but in this case it's safe to say they are betting on justice, transparency, and the rule of law.
Comment:
Wirecard began bankruptcy proceedings. 2/3 of sales were faked.