Wirecard’s Stephan von Erffa Reportedly Admits Forging Documents for Audit

Stephan von Erffa, Wirecard’s former head of accounting, has reportedly admitted to forging documents in the case that has been going on for several years now, the Financial Times reported Monday (July 4) citing sources close to the case.

He has been one of three defendants in a case brought by Munich prosecutors over the downfall of of the German tech company. A trial set for later this year.

Von Erffa is the first senior exec of the disgraced company to admit wrongdoing since Oliver Bellenhaus, head of a Dubai subsidiary, turned himself in in 2020.

According to the report, von Erffa is one of three executives with the company who’d been charged with fraud, breach of trust and market manipulations.

Thus far, he’s denied involvement in the wider fraud — he’s blamed Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek in a preliminary investigation.

The police investigation reportedly found evidence that von Erffa forged documents which got shared with auditors at KPMG and EY, which were linked to a €50 million payment that Wirecard received in 2018, which reportedly came from an Asian escrow account, wired from a trustee at the request of von Erffa.

Then, a year later, KPMG was looking into Wirecard’s accounts in an audit, with the investigation coming from a supervisory board after the Financial Times raised questions about the possibility of balance sheet manipulation.

The investigators, looking into von Erffa’s payment authorization, didn’t find it — so the accountant had fabricated one, according to reports.

This also comes as Markus Braun, ex-CEO of Wirecard, who has been in custody since July 2020, has been formally charged by prosecutors.

See also: Wirecard Ex-Boss Markus Braun Charged with Fraud by German Prosecutors

PYMNTS writes that he was charged with fraud, breach of trust and accounting manipulation.

According to the investigation, he signed off on financial statements he knew were wrong for years from 2015 to 2018.

In addition, former Wirecard manager Bellenhaus was charged.