Sönke Iwersen
Sönke Iwersen is one of Germany’s leading investigative journalists and a sought-after speaker when it comes to investigative research, white-collar crime and the responsibility of the media. With more than two decades of experience in investigative journalism, he provides in-depth insights into economic scandals and their backgrounds.
He has been working for Handelsblatt since 2006 and took over as head of the Investigative Research department in 2012. Under his leadership, the department has developed into one of the most important investigative units in the country and has received numerous awards. He is also responsible for the successful podcast Handelsblatt Crime.
Iwersen’s journalistic work has been recognized many times. He was named Business Journalist of the Year and has received prestigious awards such as the Henri Nannen Prize, the Kurt Tucholsky Prize for Literary Journalism and three times the Wächterpreis der Tagespresse.
His research covers almost all sectors. In 2008, he uncovered an informer scandal at Deutsche Bahn, a year later he uncovered the attempted fraud of a Henkel employee against Daimler to the tune of 90 million euros. In 2010, together with Jürgen Flauger, he brought the Teldafax scandal to light, for which he was honored with the Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize.
His exposé on the Ergo sex-party scandal sent shockwaves through the corporate world and forced a dramatic restructuring within the company. The case was later featured in the exhibition “Shameless? Changing Sexual Morals” at the House of History in Bonn. He also uncovered fraudulent practices in Riester pension contracts and unethical policy restructuring.
Since 2014, Sönke Iwersen has been at the forefront of investigating the Cum-Ex affair—the biggest tax fraud scandal in European history. His relentless reporting was instrumental in triggering a parliamentary inquiry in the Bundestag. In 2024, alongside Volker Votsmeier, he exposed a judicial scandal involving prosecutor Anne Brorhilker: Germany’s leading Cum-Ex investigator was systematically undermined and publicly discredited by her superiors – until she was finally forced to resign.
Iwersen’s investigations have also reverberated across the globe. He uncovered previously unknown details about Edward Snowden’s escape, traveling to Hong Kong to meet the people who risked their lives to hide him. His reporting gave these unsung heroes a voice and sparked international headlines. For this work, he was awarded the Kurt Tucholsky Prize, with the jury praising his razor-sharp storytelling and ability to expose global injustices.
In Germany, Sönke Iwersen earned critical acclaim for his investigative work on the collapse of Schlecker and his deep-dive series on Dieselgate, the largest emissions fraud scandal in the history of the German auto industry. In 2019, his revelation of the Nazi past of Roland Berger’s father made waves worldwide, covered by The Economist, The New York Times, and The Guardian. For this, he was awarded the prestigious German Reporter:innenpreis.
Sönke Iwersen – Lecture: Tesla
In March 2025, Iwersen’s book The Tesla Files was published by C.H. Beck Verlag, co-authored with his Handelsblatt colleague Michael Verfürden. It provides a stunning deep dive into a company – and a man – who inspire awe and fear in equal measure.
Elon Musk is the most powerful man on the planet. Tesla made him a three-hundredfold billionaire. His satellite network Starlink shapes the course of war in Ukraine. He wields his social media empire, X, as a propaganda machine. And in 2024, he went one step further – buying his way into U.S. politics.
As a U.S. shadow president and multi-industry titan, Musk portrays himself as the savior of civilization. But beneath this carefully crafted persona lies a disturbing reality: an alarming number of workplace accidents in his factories, catastrophic failures of Tesla’s autopilot system, and a long trail of broken promises that overshadow his empire’s success.
In The Tesla Files, Sönke Iwersen tears down Musk’s facade. His lecture uncovers how he gained access to 100 gigabytes of internal Tesla data – and what court records, whistleblower accounts, customer testimonies, and interviews with bereaved families reveal. His findings expose a company spiraling out of control, led by a CEO willing to push the limits of ethics, safety, and accountability. Many of Musk’s grand promises – from self-driving cars to Mars colonization – are nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
But one thing is certain: Musk should never be underestimated. He is the first true global oligarch. The world is his – everyone else is merely a tenant.
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