# Wirecard: The German FinTech That Fooled Everyone - Part 5: The Price of Belief Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fraud-archive-iconic-cons-scams-and-financial-crimes-explained-in-minutes-7902903/wirecard-the-german-fintech-that-fooled-everyone-part-5-the-price-of-belief Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fraud-archive-iconic-cons-scams-and-financial-crimes-explained-in-minutes-7902903/wirecard-the-german-fintech-that-fooled-everyone-part-5-the-price-of-belief.md Podcast: [The Fraud Archive – Iconic Cons, Scams and Financial Crimes explained in minutes](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fraud-archive-iconic-cons-scams-and-financial-crimes-explained-in-minutes-7902903) Published: 2026-07-17T17:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/the-fraud-archive/episodes/wirecard-aftermath Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6a24720b250fa4918b1f9c64/e/6a268829c0b710abf6aa2a65/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fraud-archive-iconic-cons-scams-and-financial-crimes-explained-in-minutes-7902903/episodes/wirecard-the-german-fintech-that-fooled-everyone-part-5-the-price-of-belief Duration seconds: 373 ## Resource A fraud this large never leaves a clean ending. After the collapse, Wirecard was no longer the pride of German fintech. It was a courtroom drama and a symbol of how trust can be destroyed in a single revelation.Billions were missing. The dream of a European digital champion was gone. Markus Braun went on trial in Munich. In two thousand twenty-four, a court convicted him on charges tied to the company’s collapse. The trial turned the scandal into a legal record, but no verdict could bring back the missing billions or undo the damage. The court proceedings laid bare the facts: Wirecard claimed nearly two billion euros in Philippine trust accounts that never existed. Years of audits, board meetings, and confident statements had all rested on a foundation of fiction.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/wirecard The Fraud Archive is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures, a collection of podcasts dedicated to exploring history's greatest cons, scams, and financial crimes. Support the podcast and access exclusive content on Patreon: https://thearchivenetwork.com/support Discover more archives and stories: https://thearchivenetwork.com Explore this archive: https://thefraudarchive.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fraud-archive-iconic-cons-scams-and-financial-crimes-explained-in-minutes-7902903/episodes/wirecard-the-german-fintech-that-fooled-everyone-part-5-the-price-of-belief/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fraud-archive-iconic-cons-scams-and-financial-crimes-explained-in-minutes-7902903/wirecard-the-german-fintech-that-fooled-everyone-part-5-the-price-of-belief.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.