Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek was Russian spymaster in Europe, UK intelligence says
Fugitive former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek was a Russian spymaster responsible for coordinating espionage operations across Europe, according to recent revelations by British intelligence services.
After Wirecard collapsed in 2020, Marsalek fled to Russia on a false passport, working closely with Austrian intelligence officer Egisto Ott, a suspected double agent. The two men allegedly coordinated the break-in and attack on behalf of the Russian government.
The documents show that Marsalek also obtained a Sina computer, NATO's most advanced encryption machine, and smuggled it into Moscow.
The charges appear in an 86-page police warrant for Ott's arrest and are based on information provided to Austrian authorities by Britain's secret service, MI5. Ott was arrested on March 29. He denies the charges against him.
Origins of Online Gambling
Wirecard began its career as a payment processor for online gambling and porn sites and grew into a leader in the $28 billion German fintech industry - Germany's "Paypal".
It is one of the richest companies on the German stock exchange and almost bought Deutsche Bank. That was until auditors discovered a $2 billion hole in the balance sheet.
Marsalek fled Germany on June 23, 2020, just days after Wirecard collapsed, claiming he wanted to go to the Philippines to search for missing billions of dollars. But this is a wrong clue.
Someone in the Philippines forged immigration documents to make it appear that Marsalek had entered the country. Instead, he is believed to have flown to Minsk, Belarus, and from there to Moscow.
He is currently being tried in absentia in Munich on charges of market manipulation and gang fraud, in what has been called Germany's "trial of the century."
"Shadow Bench"
Shortly after Marsalek disappeared, accusations emerged that he was a Russian spy. But revelations that he may be the Kremlin's most important figure in Europe have raised questions about whether Wirecard acted as Russia's shadow bank and funded its operations in the Middle East.
Marsalek allegedly used Wirecard in 2017 to supply equipment to state-sponsored Russian mercenary company Wagner Group in Syria and Libya, Der Spiegel reported.
With Ott's help, Marsalek was able to access the Schengen Information System, a database of travelers entering and leaving the EU, to track the movements of Russian dissidents and tip off an elite Kremlin-backed strike team, according to British intelligence agencies. Condition. .
This may have contributed to the murder of a Chechen dissident in central Berlin in August 2019.
Ott allegedly prepared a "lessons learned" report for Russian intelligence after the attack.
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Source: www.casino.org
