In 2002, he became the King — oops, I meant CEO — of a fintech company called Wirecard in neighbouring Germany. And just as Germany has spawned many of our most beloved and well-known fairy tales, so too did it birth the dark saga of Wirecard AG. In layman’s terms, when you buy, let’s say, an air ticket online, Wirecard and similar companies act as the middleman, ensuring the money moves from your Visa/Mastercard to the ‘merchant’, in this case the airline company. Wirecard was the quintessential Cinderella in this rags-to-riches narrative of a non-Silicon Valley unicorn. Wirecard went after them in full force, with lawsuits and underhand tactics via an outfit headed by shady former Libyan militia-types.

Source: Daily Nation July 25, 2020 21:11 UTC