\u201cFraud Trial of the Century.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nNow, the Austrian-born executive is one of the world\u2019s most wanted men. He left Germany on June 23, 2020, booking a flight to Manila. But his trip was a false trail. <\/strong><\/p>\nAn investigation by Philippine authorities found someone had forged immigration records in Manila to make it appear Marsalek had entered the country. In fact, he had flown to Minsk, Belarus, just hours after being fired by Wirecard, according to an investigation by Bellingcat,\u00a0Der Spiegel<\/em>, and\u00a0The Insider.<\/em><\/p>\nFrom there, he made his way to Moscow, where he is believed to be hiding out under the supervision of the GRU, Russia\u2019s military intelligence.<\/p>\n
Double Life<\/strong><\/h2>\nWestern intelligence agencies are intrigued by Marsalek\u2019s links to Russia and whether he himself was a Russian agent.<\/p>\n
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The former executive appeared to be leading a double life in the lead-up to Wirecard\u2019s demise. He made numerous short trips to Russia, at times on an almost monthly basis, using multiple passports, including a diplomatic passport.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
He’s also known to have met several Russian intelligence operatives during this time, and to have bribed officials in Austrian intelligence and the military. He appeared to be involved in shadowy projects involving Russian mercenaries in Libya and other Middle Eastern countries.<\/p>\n
Soviet Plot<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe clue may lie in Marsalek\u2019s family history. His paternal grandfather, Hans Marsalek, was an anti-Nazi resistance fighter during WW2 who spent time in a concentration camp. After the war, he joined the Austrian political police and helped to track down former Nazi officials.<\/p>\n
During the Cold War, Austrian authorities began to suspect that Hans Marsalek was a Soviet asset.<\/p>\n
A formerly secret document from 1956 unearthed in Austria\u2019s state archives reveals an \u201curgent suspicion\u201d that Hans Marsalek was a Russian spy, The FT<\/em> reports.<\/p>\nThe document claimed there was evidence that he had been involved in a Soviet plot to kidnap four people to take them back to Moscow. There they would be interrogated, tortured, and imprisoned. One was a US agent.<\/strong><\/p>\nHans Marsalek was never prosecuted for espionage and lived to a ripe old age. He died in 2011, a year after his grandson began his role as COO at Wirecard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a vital piece of information,\u201d Austrian historian Thomas Riegler, who discovered the document, told The FT<\/em>. \u201cIt sheds new light on Jan Marsalek and indicates that his obvious fascination with intelligence stems from his family history.\u201d<\/p>\nFall of Wirecard<\/strong><\/h2>\nWirecard started out in the 1990s as a payment processor for online gambling and porn transactions. By 2018, it had a market cap of \u20ac22 billion ($25 billion). But the company\u2019s value was being manipulated, according to German prosecutors.<\/p>\n
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In 2020, auditors reported that \u20ac1.9 billion (US$2 billion) in cash balances mentioned in Wirecard\u2019s accounts appeared to be missing. The company later admitted it \u201cprobably never existed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Prosecutors allege Marsalek is a key figure in the plot and was running a “shadow operation” that siphoned money out of Wirecard. The company\u2019s former CEO, Markus Braun, is currently on trial, along with others, on charges that include \u201cgang-related fraud.\u201d Braun denies these charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek\u2019s grandfather was a suspected Russian spy, The Financial Times has learned. The revelation could shed light on the executive\u2019s behavior in the lead-up to the fintech giant\u2019s spectacular collapse, and his subsequent flight to Moscow. Former Wirecard COO Marsalek disappeared in the summer of 2020 amid accusations of fraud and false […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":266723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10],"tags":[85658,85657,82242,84011],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Wirecard Fugitive Jan Marsalek\u2019s Grandad was \u2018Russian Agent\u2019<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n