At the first point in time the shortselling, the FT articles and the ongoing BAFIN investigation were known. At the second point in time it was known, that they hired there buddies from KPMG, who could not find anything wrong, but even they were critizising the quality of their report, EY could not find the missing money and the public prosecutor in Munich started a criminal investigation.
They still invested. One of them is a computer scientist and CEO of a small business, the other one has a PHD in business administration and works at a big three consulting firm.
Even highly educated people seem think of investments inherently as pyramid schemes. "It fell, so it has to go up again next!" "It cannot rise further, it's already at its all-time-high." No consideration for the actual value being created. At some level, you cannot blame them, TINA and monetary policy actually make it true. Auditing and rating companies, who are supposed to help here are a joke, making it all seem like a game.
It digusts me. On one end of the spectrum, money is something real and valuable. It decides, for how long you have to work, whether you have to live in your car or what you can afford to eat that day. On the other end, it's a a surreal thing. The direction it goes is controlled by private (!) instutions with enourmous amounts of power.
I hope that more people, who did not need the money lost it, than those who needed it. I also hope, that not only Wirecard staff will get prosecuted, but auditors have to pay for this in some way.
Why do we allow auditors to be private institutions with a profit motive, who are also doing business consulting on top of it?