THE PRICE OF BELIEF
The New Yorker|March 06, 2023
The unravelling of Wirecard, the biggest fraud in German history.
BEN TAUB
THE PRICE OF BELIEF

Late in the spring of 2020, Jan Marsalek, an Austrian bank executive, was suspended from his job. He was a widely admired figure in the European business community— charismatic, trilingual, and well travelled. Even at his busiest, as the chief operating officer of Wirecard, Germany’s fastest-growing financial-technology company, he would assure subordinates who sought a minute of his time that he had one, just for them. “For you, always,” he used to say. But he would say that to almost everyone.

Marsalek’s identity was inextricable from that of the company, a global payment processor that was headquartered outside Munich and had a banking license. He had joined in 2000, on his twentieth birthday, when it was a startup. He had no formal qualifications or work experience, but he showed an inexhaustible devotion to Wirecard’s growth. The company eventually earned the confidence of Germany’s political and financial élite, who considered it Europe’s answer to PayPal. When Wirecard wanted to acquire a Chinese company, Chancellor Angela Merkel personally took up the matter with President Xi Jinping.

Then, on June 18, 2020, Wirecard announced that nearly two billion euros was missing from the company’s accounts. The sum amounted to all the profits that Wirecard had ever reported as a public company. There were only two possibilities: the money had been stolen, or it had never existed.

The Wirecard board placed Marsalek on temporary leave. The missing funds had supposedly been parked in two banks in the Philippines, and Wirecard’s Asia operations were under Marsalek’s purview. Before leaving the office that day, he told people that he was going to Manila, to track down the money.

Bu hikaye The New Yorker dergisinin March 06, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye The New Yorker dergisinin March 06, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

THE NEW YORKER DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
President for Sale - A survey of today's political ads.
The New Yorker

President for Sale - A survey of today's political ads.

On a mid-October Sunday not long ago sun high, wind cool-I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a book festival, and I took a stroll. There were few people on the streets-like the population of a lot of capital cities, Harrisburg's swells on weekdays with lawyers and lobbyists and legislative staffers, and dwindles on the weekends. But, on the façades of small businesses and in the doorways of private homes, I could see evidence of political activity. Across from the sparkling Susquehanna River, there was a row of Democratic lawn signs: Malcolm Kenyatta for auditor general, Bob Casey for U.S. Senate, and, most important, in white letters atop a periwinkle not unlike that of the sky, Kamala Harris for President.

time-read
8 dak  |
November 11, 2024
LIFE ADVICE WITH ANIMAL ANALOGIES
The New Yorker

LIFE ADVICE WITH ANIMAL ANALOGIES

Go with the flow like a dead fish.

time-read
2 dak  |
November 11, 2024
CONNOISSEUR OF CHAOS
The New Yorker

CONNOISSEUR OF CHAOS

The masterly musical as mblages of Charles Ives

time-read
5 dak  |
November 11, 2024
BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS
The New Yorker

BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS

How the Brothers Grimm sought to awaken a nation.

time-read
10+ dak  |
November 11, 2024
THE ARTIFICIAL STATE
The New Yorker

THE ARTIFICIAL STATE

A different kind of machine politics.

time-read
10+ dak  |
November 11, 2024
THE HONEST ISLAND GREG JACKSON
The New Yorker

THE HONEST ISLAND GREG JACKSON

Craint did not know when he had come to the island or why he had come.

time-read
10+ dak  |
November 11, 2024
THE SHIPWRECK DETECTIVE
The New Yorker

THE SHIPWRECK DETECTIVE

Nigel Pickford has spent a lifetime searching for sunken treasure-without leaving dry land.

time-read
10+ dak  |
November 11, 2024
THE HOME FRONT
The New Yorker

THE HOME FRONT

Some Americans are preparing for a second civil war.

time-read
10+ dak  |
November 11, 2024
SYRIA'S EMPIRE OF SPEED
The New Yorker

SYRIA'S EMPIRE OF SPEED

Bashar al-Assad's regime is now a narco-state reliant on sales of amphetamines.

time-read
10+ dak  |
November 11, 2024
TUCKER EVERLASTING
The New Yorker

TUCKER EVERLASTING

Trump's favorite pundit takes his show on the road.

time-read
10+ dak  |
November 11, 2024