Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth

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Only the main players, or all of those around them that 'legitimized them' by not looking deep enough, when their sponsorship works as a certificate of good standing for the rest of the world? Earlier in my life, it had been a mystery to me why my grandfather would disappear to a room at the top of the house in the morning, afternoon and early evening with a Hebrew book in his hand. Through the kitchen windows I could see the light fading, and Grandma nodded towards the dining room, where loud conversations overlapped each other.

We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. I really wanted to be enamored with this book and enjoy it to the degree of Smartest Guys in the Room, Billion Dollar Whale, or Bad Blood. Sabbath dinner at Grandma’s was not just about the food – though there would be lots of it — it was an event. Unlike Pav Gill, some of the whistleblowers in McCrum’s story chose to use pseudonyms and remain anonymous for fear of their safety .Taking advantage of every loophole that ever existed and relying on businesses across Asia that didn't have the regulation that the Western world has, they ponzi schemed their way to a 20 billion dollar evaluation. There was rarely much time to prepare for court appearances, given the volume of cases the firm represented. McCrum structures this sprawling and complicated narrative by alternating between the history of Wirecard he has unearthed through interviews and documents, and the personal story of his investigations into the company. And when McCrum started to peal back the layers, it involved porn and gambling rings across Europe, Russian spies and a smear campaign against anyone that spoke ill of Wirecard. Although McCrum’s book, Money Men may read like a gripping crime drama, it is a meticulously-documented account of a mind-boggling investigation that brought down one of Germany’s most celebrated fintech companies.

These stories always pose the question for me: who's responsible for the scale of damage this provoked? You'd also think that the journalistic world would come together in the face of an attack on one of theirs, and not throw the victims to the wolves to be eaten. It is also a reminder of how markets and society at large stand to benefit from whistleblowers and short sellers.Author Dan McCrum gives a gripping firsthand account of the astonishing series of events that unfolded during the investigation, detailing the setbacks, the luck, and the hard edged tactics used against him. McCrum was more responsible than anyone else for the exposure and eventual collapse of the hugely fraudulent payment company.