FTX Collapse Draws Senate Hearing Scrutiny as Crypto Oversight in Focus
Wall Street JournalAPR 2023
Despite clear evidence of crimes committed by Wirecard, authorities not only failed to detect its unprecedented fraud, but they also intervened on the wrong side by initially persecuting journalists who denounced the company. This failure is partly due to the German siege mentality, political cronyism, and the desire for a digital national champion.
German politicians and financial regulators must not be treated as scapegoats for the accounting scandal that led to Wirecard's collapse. While they did fail to detect irregularities, so did EY, which is as much as — if not more — responsible for ensuring its compliance. Either way, nobody is more to blame than those directly behind the scheme.