EY Faces 1.5 Billion Euro Lawsuit Over Wirecard Audit

EY, the accountancy firm, is being sued for 1.5 billion euros ($1.66 billion) for its alleged auditing failures leading up to Wirecard's 2020 collapse. Michael Jaffe, Wirecard's insolvency administrator, filed the lawsuit in Stuttgart, with the court confirming this on Friday.

This is among multiple suits EY is contesting, including a recent investor claim seeking over 700 million euros. EY has chosen not to comment on the lawsuits.

Previously EY has rejected accusations of negligence regarding Wirecard, which went bankrupt in June 2020 with nearly $4 billion in debt after revealing a 1.9 billion-euro discrepancy in its accounts a gap EY attributed to a complex global fraud.

Wirecard's implosion caused upheaval in Germany, questioning the roles of supportive politicians and slow-to-act regulators. Shareholder attorney Klaus Nieding criticized EY last week, suggesting the missing funds should have been easily detected, noting that another auditor swiftly identified the discrepancy. The damages amount for the Stuttgart case was initially reported by Handelsblatt.