Ex-Wirecard CEO Markus Braun has been in custody for almost three years. His main defense attorney is Alfred Dierlamm (right), one of the best-known criminal lawyers in this country.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf, Munich Former Wirecard boss Markus Braun has lost a legal dispute with his manager liability insurance for the payment of a further ten million euros. The district court in Düsseldorf dismissed Braun’s lawsuit against Swiss Re on Thursday.
As a reason, the chamber primarily cited a “series damage clause” asserted by Swiss Re. According to this, all insured events are combined if they are based on the same breach of duty or on several breaches of duty that are closely related in terms of content and timing.
In the case of damage that extends over several years, the insurance only pays if the contract was already valid in the year in which the claim was made for the first time. Because a class action lawsuit was filed in the USA in 2019 and Braun is already demanding that legal fees be paid for it, 2019 is the decisive year.
At that time, however, Swiss Re had no insurance cover. Braun’s manager liability with the insurer only applies to the year 2020.
Wirecard had taken out such a D&O insurance for its CEO. The abbreviation D&O stands for “Directors and Officers Liability”, the industry standard designation for manager liability insurance.
Companies use it to protect their management and supervisory boards against claims from third parties or from their own company in the event of damage. They also pay the often high legal fees for defending executives.
Wirecard process: Numerous insurers have to bear the costs
So far, the basic insurer Chubb covered the defense costs and had to bear the first 15 million euros. Braun was able to prevail against Chubb in a legal dispute: the insurer had to pay. However, Chubb’s funds are largely exhausted, which is why Braun filed claims with Swiss Re.
The Swiss insurance company is next in line in the insurance consortium. The insurance is divided into eight layers, each layer covers between ten and 25 million euros of the coverage.
There are numerous civil proceedings against Braun in several countries. Braun must answer criminally before the district court Munich I. Criminal proceedings are currently underway there against him and two other managers for a multi-billion dollar fraud that bankrupted Wirecard in June 2020.
The public prosecutor’s office accuses the trio of gang fraud, accounting fraud and market manipulation. Braun, who has been in custody for almost exactly three years, rejects the allegations. He sees himself as a victim of other managers whom he blames for the fraud, including one of the co-defendants.
More: First insurance from Wirecard managers announces the end of payments