Library:Money Men
| Money Men: A Hot Startup, a Billion Dollar Fraud, a Fight for the Truth | |
|---|---|
| Author | Dan McCrum |
| First published | 2022 |
| ISBN | — |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Business, Finance & Scams |
| Tactics | Fraud or Scam Fabrication |
Money Men: A Hot Startup, a Billion Dollar Fraud, a Fight for the Truth is a 2022 book by Dan McCrum.
Summary
Dan McCrum, an investigative reporter at the Financial Times, spent six years investigating Wirecard, a German payments company that rose to join the DAX index of Germany's largest companies before collapsing in 2020 when it admitted that 1.9 billion euros it claimed to hold did not exist. Money Men is his account of the investigation, the company's efforts to discredit him, and the regulators who sided with Wirecard until the end. A Netflix documentary, Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard, followed in 2022.
The company
Wirecard presented itself as a fintech success story, processing card payments around the world. Its reported growth relied heavily on business in Asia conducted through third-party partners. McCrum explains how he and short sellers began to suspect that much of this business was fictitious, based on discrepancies in accounts, visits to supposed partner offices that turned out to be empty or unrelated businesses, and accounts from whistleblowers.
The backlash
Wirecard and its allies responded aggressively. The company accused McCrum and the FT of colluding with short sellers to manipulate the share price. McCrum describes being surveilled by private investigators and targeted by hacking attempts. Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, banned short selling of Wirecard shares in 2019 and filed a criminal complaint against McCrum and a colleague, which was later dropped.
The collapse
In June 2020 Wirecard's auditor, EY, refused to sign off on its accounts after finding that confirmations of cash balances held in Philippine banks were spurious. The company admitted the money probably did not exist and filed for insolvency. Its chief executive was arrested, and its chief operating officer, Jan Marsalek, fled and was later reported to be in Russia.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
Money Men shows how a fraud can be protected by national pride, regulatory capture and attacks on critics, and how persistent journalism can expose it. It is a reminder that when a company attacks the messenger, the message deserves a closer look.
Related entries
- Wirecard's missing 1.9 billion euros
- Luckin Coffee sales figures
- The Smartest Guys in the Room (McLean and Elkind)
External links
- Open Library record: to be added when the edition's ISBN has been confirmed.