The Evil Diaries: “Apology to Wirecard”

I had no sooner attended the chairman’s lunch on Friday and wended my way back to my desk than I learnt that not merely had my bear selection for 2016, Wirecard (WDI on Frankfurt), gone up 5% in my absence but that an email, purportedly sent by a staff member at ZatarraResearch.com (the cause of WDI’s recent demise), disclosed that the Zatarra 100 page report into WDI is completely fake. Hence the price recovery.

You read the report and draw your own conclusions and then short WDI. Now E34.5.

For those who like reading fake emails, I offer the offending item:

“Subject: APOLOGY TO WIRECARD

– allegations against Wirecard concocted and wrong
– criminal short seller group in UK with ties to media

I have been employed by the group you got to know lately as ‘Zatarra’ to assist them in setting up what I was originally told to be a disclosure of information collected on an alleged misconduct of German firm Wirecard.

Over the last months I have become aware of unethical and unlawful conduct and practices by my employers, however, that I feel compelled to bring to your attention:

In the course of performing what I believed were my duties for my employers, I came to realise that they have repeatedly falsified evidence and have taken open-source information out of context to intentionally project a negative image of the firm.

Their actions were inspired by a successful short-selling attack on Wirecard in 2010 and served the sole purpose of manipulating the stock market’s and the public’s perception of the firm in order to temporarily tank its share price.

Following a detailed action plan, my employers and their associates built up significant short positions against the firm over a period of several months through a network of multiple shell companies, funds and brokerages. In the meantime my associates and I collected open-source information that could be used to tarnish the firm’s reputation.

The inner circle of this operation consists of individuals based in London, notably Mr. Brett Palos, Mr. Nick Gold, Mr. Yomi Rodrig, Mr. Nathaniel Glas, Mr. Omar Khyami, Mr. Shami Ahmed and several affiliated individuals. I hold evidence in form of voice recordings, incorporation documents, screenshots of SilentCircle chats and brokerage applications (ETX, CMC and others) documenting the coordination of the build-up of short positions, the timing of the release of reports and newspaper publications and the profits accumulated.

Further I hold evidence in the form of screenshots and voice recordings that my employers have directly and indirectly repeatedly bribed and attempted to bribe journalists of several newspapers in the United Kingdom and the United States so as to use those newspapers as credible platforms to spread their allegations.

I would like to correct the issues arising from the claims I and my employers brought against Wirecard. I came to realise too late that our actions were not only unethical but also clearly illegal and have brought harm to a firm that had done no wrong. The claims and allegations we brought forward were driven by greed and criminal motives and I apologise to Wirecard, its shareholders, business partners and employees.

While I am writing you today from the official Zatarra email account I will most likely lose access to this account upon sending this email. I will shortly release further evidence on the criminal activities of my employers upon establishing a new email account.

D @ Zatarra”

*****

Fattist note: at the lunch it struck me that Crispin Odey is now roughly my size. That is quite an achievement on his part. He is not as handsome of course.