No one wants to go there voluntarily. Munich-Stadelheim Prison is not one of the Bavarian capital's tourist magnets. And yet the prison is currently providing plenty of material for a possible Hollywood-style movie classic. This could attract many viewers to the cinemas. The criminal trial surrounding the collapse of payment processor Wirecard in an underground prison annex at the Munich Regional Court has been going on for more than ten months. Scenes worthy of a movie are playing out in the largest white-collar crime case in the Federal Republic of Germany and are leaving trial observers breathless.

In front of the 4th Criminal Chamber of the District Court, the main defendant, former CEO Markus Braun, and the co-defendant turned key witness, Oliver Bellenhaus, the former company representative in Dubai, engage in a duel for truth-finding. While Bellenhaus confesses to all the charges brought by the prosecution and heavily incriminates Braun, the 54-year-old Austrian denies the allegations of organized gang fraud, embezzlement, accounting fraud, and market manipulation. He maintains his innocence while waiving his right to remain silent.

In this complex situation, presiding Judge Markus Födisch conducts the trial with expertise, even though he is occasionally compelled to rein in Braun's lawyers, who attempt to disrupt the proceedings with a barrage of requests to produce evidence. The most significant point of contention in this battle was a written statement addressed to the Criminal Chamber from the fugitive former Head of Sales, Jan Marsalek, which Braun's defense regarded as evidence of their client's innocence. This led to a heated exchange in the courtroom, with Födisch holding the upper hand. What use does the court have for a document originating from a suspect subject to an international arrest warrant? While the spectacle made headlines, it did nothing to contribute to the legal resolution of the case.

The fact remains that, based on the examination of several dozen witnesses and the evaluation of numerous pieces of evidence, the court has significant doubts about Braun's account. There is still a strong suspicion against him. This is why Födisch recently rejected another request for Braun's release from custody by his lawyers. Like Bellenhaus, the former CEO has been in pre-trial detention in Stadelheim since the Wirecard collapse in the summer of 2020.

In his previous statements in court, Braun has already entangled himself in numerous contradictions. While the auditors from KPMG, the insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé, and house-internal ex-post investigations all concluded that the dubious third-party business (TPA) in Asia did not exist, Braun still maintains the opposite. However, he couldn't provide any evidence to support his claim. When it comes to market manipulation, he faced difficulties in explaining a mandatory announcement he authored in April 2020 regarding the KPMG special audit, in which he deliberately omitted the auditors' critical points, thereby misleading investors.

During the questioning of former employees in Wirecard's central functions, it became evident that no one within the company had the courage to seriously question the existence of the TPA division, even though the board failed to provide usable information and evidence upon inquiry for balance assessments. Apparently, there was a climate of fear during Braun's leadership at Wirecard. Unlike the 1994 case of accounting fraud at the sports flooring manufacturer Balsam, where an employee report set things in motion, at Wirecard, it was critical coverage from the financial newspaper FT with the help of a whistleblower that triggered the chain of events.

Due to the magnitude of the Wirecard case, Födisch will require many more months to work through the extensive witness list. The court could therefore possibly reach a verdict in the second half of 2024 at the earliest, perhaps not even until 2025. Till then, the public can look forward to further cinema-worthy events in Stadelheim.