In the last days of the Wirecard trial, former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun footed his defense on business with merchants still considered “big players” in the porn sector. However, their business was not handled by third-party partners in Asia but by Wirecard itself or so-called “white label acquirers” from Europe with whom it had business ties. This is shown by several internal merchant lists with more than 8,000 (!) porn websites listed.
Several former Wirecard porn customers, on whom Markus Braun‘s defense lawyers are basing their defense line, are the subject of police investigations or court proceedings in the United States and Europe. Among other things, they are accused of facilitating rape, sex trafficking, and child pornography. These customers include MindGeek, MG Billing, and Netlook. In Wirecard‘s good times, Braun was embarrassed for these customers. Now he is trying to prove the “reality” of Wirecard‘s business with these porn customers.
Porn, like online gambling, is good business for those payment processors who participate in it without moral qualms. Proof needed? Former Wirecard top executives Ruediger Trautmann and Dietmar Knoechelmann are massively involved in porn and gambling with their Cypriot-German high-risk payment processor Payabl and are experiencing explosive growth rates. With customers like the operators of StripChat or xHamsterLive, Payabl makes a significant part of its business. In addition, there are online casinos and gambling sites whose activities are legally questionable.
The Payabl business model evidently is a cash cow. Every employee in Cyprus allegedly received a BMW as a gift last year. Payabl‘s sponsorship activities also testify to the financial potency of the porn and gambling facilitator.
In this respect, Markus Braun‘s defense strategy could work out. Perhaps his defense attorneys will subpoena Payabl founders Dietmar Knoechelmann and Ruediger Trautmann as proof of the existence of the porn and gambling business at the time.
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