The former CEO of the bankrupt company Wirecard, Markus Braun, is threatened with defeat in the legal dispute with his manager liability insurance. The presiding judge of the 9th civil chamber of the Düsseldorf Regional Court, Petra Gundlach, said in a hearing on Friday that, according to the chamber’s preliminary legal assessment, the manager’s lawsuit against the insurance company had “no chance of success”.
The 53-year-old Austrian wants to use an injunction to force the insurance company Swiss Re to provide the agreed coverage of 10 million euros for his countless lawsuits. However, Swiss Re refuses and refers to the “series damage clause” contained in the contract. According to her, managerial liability does not have to cover the consequences, all of which stem from a single claim. The chamber plans to announce its final decision on July 13.
The court also saw no reason to grant the plaintiff Markus Braun preliminary legal protection in the summary proceedings. She sees “no urgency,” emphasized the judge. “You have known for two and a half years that countless lawsuits will come your way.” Markus Braun’s lawyers had only applied for the injunction at the Düsseldorf Regional Court in June.
Markus Braun has been in custody for almost three years. In the largest fraud case in German post-war history, Braun and two other former Wirecard managers are accused of commercial gang fraud. According to the indictment, they are said to have falsified Wirecard’s balance sheets since 2015 and damaged lending banks by 3.1 billion euros. According to Braun, the missing billions were embezzled by criminals in the company without his knowledge or involvement.
