Wirecard’s fraud started more than a decade before the German payments company imploded, as some senior managers began establishing a network of offshore companies that were used to siphon off millions, a former top executive has told prosecutors. Some years later, Mr Bellenhaus moved millions of these funds to a private foundation, they added. A sports-car enthusiast, Mr Bellenhaus ran a Wirecard unit at the heart of the company’s fraud from his apartment in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. The account apparently given by Mr Bellenhaus puts the beginning of the fraud five years earlier than prosecutors had suggested last summer. In late 2015, Mr Marsalek redirected more than €4.5 million to the BVI-based entity from a real payments processor Wirecard worked with in Asia.

Source: The Irish Times March 23, 2021 15:35 UTC