Wow. Many words bound and printed. Almost eight years since @johnhempton mentioned a funny little German company called Wirecard. Never imagined where it would lead
I’m kinda speechless. Thanks everyone, thanks to the jury, the whistleblowers, and the wonderful @CharlotteMcCrum who had to put up with Wirecard’s trolls and shenanigans, as well as me.
The Journalist of the Year award goes to Dan McCrum @FD of the @FT who faced down intimidation, surveillance and personal threats as well as a campaign of disinformation to bring down one of Germany’s most garlanded businesses, Wirecard #BJA2020
"Have you been arrested yet?"
This is the tale of the spies, the hacking, the put-up job, the sock puppets, the fancy restaurants, the digital handbag and the many, many professionals taking Wirecard's money to fight and intimidate its critics
MONEY MEN is out today!
The thrilling true story of Wirecard’s wild rise and crashing fall charts an investigation like no other. It reveals hidden worlds of short sellers and whistleblowers, pornographers and private militias, hackers and spies. 🧵1/6
For background on Wirecard collapse today, these are the two key stories.
In October, we wrote that sales and profits appeared fraudulently inflated.
ft.com/content/19c6be…
In December, we wrote that "trustee accounts" were included in cash balances.
ft.com/content/845b0d…
