In the middle of the fraud trial surrounding the billion-dollar bankruptcy of the financial group Wirecard, ex-CEO Markus Braun loses his most important defender. Lawyer Alfred Dierlamm said on Wednesday that he has resigned from his mandate for financial reasons. Because the fee budget of the responsible manager’s liability insurance has been used up. “The pot is empty,” says Dierlamm.
“We expressly point out that the termination of the mandate is based exclusively on economic considerations and not on reasons related to the case itself,” said Dierlamm and his colleague at the law firm Elena-Sabella Meier in a letter to the court that is available to Reuters. Dierlamm is considered one of the most prominent German criminal lawyers in numerous commercial cases, such as the VW diesel scandal or the Cum-Ex scandal.
Take over as public defender
The former millionaire Braun is now represented in these proceedings by public defenders who are paid from the state treasury. According to her own information, the lead was taken by lawyer Theres Kraußlach, who had already joined Braun’s defense team before the start of the trial in December 2022. The court will decide in its judgment, which is expected next year, who will ultimately have to pay the legal costs.
Incredible financial scandal
The DAX group Wirecard went bankrupt in 2020 when it was discovered that 1.9 billion euros were missing from blocked accounts in Asia. It is one of the biggest financial scandals in German post-war history. The Public Prosecution Service speaks of fraud, forgery of accounts, market manipulation and breach of trust. Austrian Braun has rejected the allegations. A known co-suspect is considered a key witness, while a third suspect has remained silent so far.
Millions for lawsuits
Braun and numerous other ex-Wirecard executives are involved in a number of criminal and civil cases due to the accounting scandal. A large part of the costs were borne by insurer Chubb, with which Wirecard, like many other companies, had taken out liability insurance for its top managers. Because of the English name “Directors and Officers”, this is also called D&O insurance.
According to information from legal circles, the pot at Chubb for various procedures amounted to approximately 17 million euros. This has been the subject of legal proceedings in various courts, as well as compensation claims against other D&O insurers such as Swiss Re. In his letter to the Munich Regional Court, Dierlamm pointed out that Braun’s lawyers had lost a legal dispute with Chubb in Frankfurt at the end of March.
Source: Krone
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