Exposing fraud at 'Germany's Enron'

Wirecard was once a fast-rising European fintech company that grew primarily through acquisitions. Now it’s dubbed the “Enron of Germany.” Its attempts to cover up holes in its accounts resulted in a plummeting stock price and ultimately pushed the company into insolvency. The similarities to Enron are straightforward: gregarious corporate leaders, opaque financial statements and a dogged reporter.

But in Wirecard’s case, Dan McCrum — the investigative journalist who broke the story for the Financial Times and is this year’s winner of the 2021 ACFE Guardian Award — faced unprecedented obstacles and harassment. McCrum, who’s become the poster child for “vigilance in fraud reporting,” is especially deserving of an award that the ACFE bestows annually to a journalist who shows determination and perseverance in exposing specific acts of fraud and white-collar crime.