MONEY MEN
A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth
By DAN McCRUM
Money Men is the true story behind the rise and fall of Wirecard and a six-year long newspaper investigation that exposed the company’s multi-billion dollar fraud and brought it crashing down.
Author Dan McCrum gives a gripping firsthand account of the astonishing series of events that unfolded during the investigation, detailing the setbacks, the luck, and the hard edged tactics used against him. He tells the stories of the people involved; of the Sikh whistleblower who lived with his mum in Singapore and just wanted to find a new job; the struck-off social worker who became a famous short seller; the lairy Englishman secretly pulling the strings from his yacht in Monaco; the Austrian finance whizz kid who took his holidays in warzones; the old school editor who knew that the best news stories are found dangerously close to the edge.
As he chased down the story it became clear that he wasn’t the only one in pursuit. Wirecard fought back, trying to discredit the investigation and push him out of a job. He was threatened, followed around London, offered money, hacked, subjected to online abuse, and named as the prime suspect in a criminal inquiry. He reveals just how close they came to getting away with.
the author
Dan McCrum is multi-award winning journalist and author. In 15 years at the Financial Times he has covered business and finance from New York and London, helping to uncover fraudulent accounting at several listed companies. He is currently a member of the investigations team, and his reporting on Wirecard was recognised with more than a dozen awards and prizes, including journalist of the year at the 2020 British Press Awards.
Dan got a taste for newsprint as a paperboy in his family’s newsagent. Before becoming a journalist he tried his hand at painting and decorating, selling cook books door-to-door, and learned a thing or two about finance in the research department of an investment bank. He lives with his family in St Albans.
The Book is also available in German translation from Ullstein as
HOUSE OF WIRECARD
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Endorsements
What a wild ride! Going head-to-head with powerful executives, their teams of lawyers and intelligence operatives, Dan McCrum has uncovered one of the biggest economic scandals in Europe. Money Men reads like a thriller, but it's all true
Dan McCrum's deep dive into Wirecard was the financial investigation of the decade. Money Men tells the story from inside Wirecard's headquarters with entertaining drama and verve, but it also unspools the high-stakes reporting process McCrum and his colleagues carried out at the Financial Times against the odds. It instantly enters the canon of great financial crime books.
Money Men is a rip-roaring ride into the underworld of the global economy. Dan McCrum is a proper reporter: there is no threat, con trick or hangover that will stand in his way. In today's pandemic of lies, courageous journalism like this is the medicine.
‘It’s a fantastic book. Think of Dan as a bespectacled James Bond with a keyboard instead of a gun.
IN THE Press
“If I’d just walked away from this story, my reputation and career were toast”
“In Germany I was suddenly seen as a criminal’ (German)”
“The polite young man who took down the Wirecard scammers (German)”
“House of Wirecard reads like a thriller, especially the chapters in which the author himself puts himself at the center of the action.“ (German) Frankfurter Allgemeine
“This behind-the-scenes look into the years of work and the persistence that was required to topple Wirecard is nothing short of incredible.”