RCS - TILP Litigation mbH - Wirecard-BaFin-Scandal

Porsche Automobil Holding SEAnnouncement

24/07/2020 09:05

RNS Number : 0008U
  
TILP Litigation Rechtsanwalt. mbH
  
24 July 2020
  
 

Press Release from TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH: Wirecard-BaFin-Scandal, * Law firm of TILP brings action for official liability against BaFin for the agency's years-long abuse of authority in Wirecard case compliance scandal 





DGAP-Media / 24.07.2020 
Press release from TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH



Wirecard-BaFin Scandal: 
- Law firm of TILP brings action for damages claiming official liability of BaFin for the agency's years-long abuse of authority in Wirecard case
- Request seeking the establishment of a model case filed with the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt 


Kirchentellinsfurt, July 24th, 2020



Yesterday evening, the Tübingen law firm of TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH (TILP) brought an action seeking compensation of damages from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) with the Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main, which has sole jurisdiction for this matter, charging that for years, the agency abused its authority in the Wirecard matter. The grounds cited for the charge of abuse of power are that at the least, BaFin acted negligently in failing to comply with its statutory duties requiring it, on the one hand, to clear up and prevent market manipulations by Wirecard, and to file the corresponding charges, and, on the other hand, to accurately and fully inform the public and the capital market in a manner that is not misleading.
"We are firmly convinced that BaFin is liable to compensate investors for their damages, at a minimum concerning all purchases of Wirecard stock and the Wirecard bond, as well as derivatives based on Wirecard shares of stock, that were made from February 18th, 2019, onwards," is how Andreas W. Tilp, attorney, summarized the case. "In our view, BaFin grossly neglected its statutory tasks and powers by refusing to pursue investigations of its own against Wirecard AG for market manipulation, while taking biased action against journalists and short sellers even though the agency was fully aware of the media reports about massive irregularities at Wirecard AG. Had the authority properly investigated the matter, the accounting fraud would have been known since long on Friday, February 15th, 2019. Instead, it was on that date that BaFin first involved the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) and instructed it to audit potential violations of accounting law by Wirecard AG in its half-year financial report 2018," Tilp explained the charges brought in the claim.
Section 342b paragraph 2 sentence 3 No. 2 of the Commercial Code (HGB) stipulates that any instructions by BaFin to FREP calling for an audit must be premised on BaFin's having specific indications of a breach of accounting rules.
"So in spite of the fact that BaFin must have had specific indications that Wirecard AG had violated accounting rules, the authority did not inform the public of this fact," emphasized Maximilian Weiss, attorney with the TILP group of law firms. Instead, by its general administrative act of February 18th, 2019, BaFin issued a prohibition on establishing short positions in shares of Wirecard AG, and moreover concealed, in the section providing background information, the indications known to it that a breach of accounting law had been committed by Wirecard AG. "In like manner, BaFin failed to disclose to the public its notification of the Federal Ministry of Finance, already on February 14th, 2019, that it was not only instructing FREP, but also intended to target a range of different parties in its investigations for market manipulations, in other words also Wirecard AG. In doing so, BaFin provided public information to the market that was biased, incomplete, and misleading - and we are firmly convinced that this likewise gives rise to liability for breach of official duty pursuant to Section 839 of the German Civil Code (BGB)," Weiss summarized the case.
In the view taken by TILP, BaFin is not entitled to liability privilege in any form whatsoever. "In particular, our analysis shows that Section 4 paragraph 4 of the Act on the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (FinDAG) is not applicable here. The reason is that the adjudication handed down by the Federal Court of Justice has recognized that this particular rule of law does not serve to protect BaFin from liability in cases in which an abuse of authority was committed," Andreas Tilp emphasized.
TILP has created a platform, www.wirecard-klage.de, on which investors may register, free of charge, in order to obtain further information at no cost.
Contact:
TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH

Specialist attorneys for banking and capital markets law

Andreas Tilp, attorney

Einhornstr. 21 | 72138 Kirchentellinsfurt | Germany

Tel.: +49 7121 90909-0

Fax: +49 7121 90909-81

Mail: medien@tilp.de
www.tilp.de
The obligatory disclosures mandated by Section 35a of the Limited Liability Companies Act (GmbHG) are available at https://www.tilp.de/impressum







TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH - Pioneering investor rights for over 25 years

TILP is among the leading German law firms specialized in banking, investment, and capital markets law and is one of the most experienced in these fields. Since 1994, TILP has been committed to representing the interests exclusively of investors and has been doing so very effectively. The law firm has represented private and institutional investors, family offices as well as public administrative institutions in numerous large-scale financial proceedings before the courts. TILP enjoys great respect both with the media and the firm's competitors: For many years now, TILP consistently has been ranked by its peers among the very top law firms serving clients in matters of banking and capital markets law. Nomos Verlag, the publisher of the definitive "Handbook of Law Firms in Germany," referred to the firm in the 2014 edition as the "leading law firm for capital markets law matters." For more than fifteen consecutive years, JUVE, the legal-industry publication issuing the market survey "German Commercial Law Firms," has ranked TILP among the absolute top tier of firms in the field of capital investment proceedings. According to JUVE publications, the law firm is "one of the leading law firms representing both institutional and private investors in disputes involving banking and capital markets law . for years now, it has been the first choice of claimants and . significantly has shaped this field of law." JUVE reports that TILP's competitors regard the firm to be a sort of "role model due to its exceptional professional competence." At this point, TILP has obtained more than 200 rulings from the Federal Court of Justice and the Federal Constitutional Court that are of fundamental significance in protecting the rights of investors in Germany.



TILP has a proven track record as a highly expert and experienced law firm serving clients in collective redress matters both in Germany and abroad. In Germany, it does so particularly in model case proceedings brought under the Capital Markets Model Case Act (KapMuG). When this Act was reformed in 2012, the firm's founder Andreas Tilp was one of the nine experts involved by the Committee on Legal Affairs of the German Bundestag. In October of 2014, TILP prevailed on behalf of the model-case plaintiff before the Federal Court of Justice in the KapMuG case "DT 3" brought against Deutsche Telekom AG, and likewise won the case brought by the model-case plaintiff before the Higher Regional Court of Munich in the KapMuG proceedings against Hypo Real Estate Holding AG (HRE). In the wake of these successes, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung referred to Andreas Tilp as "Mister KapMuG." At present, TILP is representing the model-case plaintiff against Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. in the model case proceedings before the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt regarding the suits filed by investors in the matter of the eponymous accounting scandal; these proceedings currently have been suspended to allow settlement negotiations to be pursued.



Andreas Tilp has provided his expertise to the Government Commission on Corporate Governance as well as, on several occasions, to the national German parliament, the Bundestag. He advised the parliament on the Act to Improve Investor Protection and the Functioning of the Capital Market (AnsFuG), the Act Implementing the AIFM Directive, and the First Act Amending Financial Market Legislation.



TILP Litigation Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH

As the representative primarily of institutional investors seeking redress under capital markets law, the Tübingen law firm of TILP Litigation Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH ("TILP Litigation") is pursuing actions brought in Germany. The firm is an affiliate of TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH ("TILP"). At present, TILP Litigation is representing investors claiming billions of Euros from Volkswagen AG in the context of Dieselgate, among them the model-case plaintiff in the model case proceedings before the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig, as well as investors claiming roughly EUR 900 million from Daimler AG in proceedings pending with the Regional Court of Stuttgart.



End of Media Release
 
Issuer: TILP Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH

Key word(s): Finance
24.07.2020 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

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