The CEO of scandal-hit Wirecard resigns as shares crash another 50%

The German payments firm is at the center of a huge accounting scandal after it revealed it was unable to trace 1.9 billion in cash balances.
The company has also been subject to a long-running investigation by the Financial Times over its accounting practices.
In a terse statement issued Friday, Wirecard said Braun stepped down with the agreement of its board and that chief compliance officer James Freis was temporarily taking on the CEO role.
Earlier on Friday, Braun had suggested that Wirecard itself might be the victim of fraud.
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The chief executive of scandal-hit German payments firm Wirecard stepped down suddenly on Friday, after a torrid 48 hours during which the firm revealed that nearly 2 billion euros in cash balances had gone missing.

Wirecard announced the immediate departure of Markus Braun in a short statement on Friday, stating that chief compliance officer James Freis would take up the CEO role in the interim.

Braun's resignation is the latest in a wave of developments that has sent Wirecard's share price crashing.

On Thursday, the once highly valued firm said on Thursday that its auditors at EY could not confirm "sufficient audit evidence" of about 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) in its cash balances, effectively saying the money had gone missing. Shares plummeted over 65% .

This is a developing story...

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