Markus Braun, who until resigning last week was the CEO of embattled German fintech firm Wirecard, turned himself in to authorities last night as part of the widening probe into a missing $2 billion that it is now believed likely never to have existed in the first place, said Bloomberg. He was granted a bail of $5.67 million the following afternoon. Prosecutors have accused Braun of leading efforts to inflate the firm's balance sheet and sales volume by falsifying transactions with third-party acquirers in order to paint a false picture of fiscal health to investors.

This is a marked contrast to the initial belief that Wirecard was the victim of market manipulation, said Bloomberg. Since that time, however, authorities have learned that many of these ostensible third parties had no business relationship with Wirecard, nor did the banks that the firm had at first said were holding the $2 billion. Add on to that reports that the firm was deliberately trying to deceive the auditors, and German authorities began seeing a very different story.

Braun is unlikely to be the only leader targeted by authorities, as prosecutors are pursuing additional suspects. Bloomberg said the incident has incited calls for reforms within the government, as Germany's top financial regulator is said to have failed to act on previous fraud allegations.