{"id":316856,"date":"2024-04-09T18:39:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T23:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=316856"},"modified":"2024-04-10T10:01:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T15:01:48","slug":"wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Wirecard Fugitive Jan Marsalek was Russian Spymaster in Europe, Says British Intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fugitive former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek<\/a> was a Russian spymaster<\/a> who coordinated espionage operations across Europe, according to allegations by British intelligence that have just recently come to light.<\/p>\n

\"Jan
Jan Marsalek, pictured in Red Square, Moscow, before his 2020 escape to Russia days after Wirecard\u2019s collapse. He is currently one of the world\u2019s most wanted men. (Image: Daily Mirror<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marsalek, who fled to Russia on a false passport in the wake of Wirecard\u2019s epic 2020 collapse, worked closely with Austrian intelligence official Egisto Ott, an alleged double agent. Together, the pair allegedly coordinated break-ins and assassinations on behalf of the Russian government.<\/p>\n

Marsalek also got his hands on a SINA computer, NATO\u2019s most advanced cryptography machine, which he smuggled to Moscow, according to the documents.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The allegations appear in an 86-page police warrant for Ott\u2019s arrest and are based on information supplied to Austrian authorities by Britain\u2019s MI5 intelligence service. Ott was detained on March 29. He denies the accusations against him.<\/p>\n

Online Gambling Origins<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wirecard began life as a payment processor for online gambling<\/a> and pornography websites, and grew into the leading light of the German fintech sector, with a $28 billion market cap.<\/p>\n

It was one of the wealthiest traded entities on the German stock exchange and almost bought out Deutsche Bank. That was until auditors found a $2 billion hole in its balance sheet.<\/p>\n

\n

Marsalek fled Germany on June 23, 2020, just days after Wirecard\u2019s collapse, claiming he was going to the Philippines to look for the missing billions. But it was a false trail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Someone in the Philippines<\/a> forged immigration records to make it appear that Marsalek had entered the country. Instead, it\u2019s believed he flew to Minsk, Belarus, and from there made his way to Moscow.<\/p>\n

Marsalek is currently on trial in absentia in Munich on charges that include market manipulation and gang-related fraud in what has been dubbed Germany\u2019s \u201ctrial of the century.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Shadow Bank\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Allegations that Marsalek was a Russian spy emerged shortly after his disappearance. But the revelation that he may have been the Kremlin\u2019s point man in Europe raises questions about whether Wirecard operated as a shadow bank for Russia and funded its operations in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Marsalek is believed to have used Wirecard to supply Russian state-funded mercenary company the Wagner Group with equipment in Syria and Libya, according to Der Spiegel.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

With the alleged help of Ott, who had access to the Schengen Information System, a database of visitors entering and leaving the European Union, Marsalek was able to track the movements of Russian dissidents to inform elite Kremlin-backed hit squads, per British intelligence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This may have enabled the assassination of a Chechen dissident in central Berlin in August 2019.<\/p>\n

Ott allegedly prepared a \u201clessons learned\u201d report for Russian intelligence after the hit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fugitive former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek was a Russian spymaster who coordinated espionage operations across Europe, according to allegations by British intelligence that have just recently come to light. Marsalek, who fled to Russia on a false passport in the wake of Wirecard\u2019s epic 2020 collapse, worked closely with Austrian intelligence official Egisto Ott, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":316857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10,19],"tags":[90478,85657,90479,84011],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWirecard Fugitive Jan Marsalek was 'Russian Spymaster in Europe'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek was a major Russian spy in Europe who worked with Austrian intelligence agent Egisto Ott.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wirecard Fugitive Jan Marsalek was 'Russian Spymaster in Europe'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek was a major Russian spy in Europe who worked with Austrian intelligence agent Egisto Ott.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-09T23:39:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-10T15:01:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Jan.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"604\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/\",\"name\":\"Wirecard Fugitive Jan Marsalek was 'Russian Spymaster in Europe'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Jan.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-09T23:39:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-10T15:01:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek was a major Russian spy in Europe who worked with Austrian intelligence agent Egisto Ott.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wirecard-fugitive-jan-marsalek-was-russian-spymaster-in-europe\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Jan.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Jan.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":604,\"caption\":\"Jan Marsalek, pictured in Red Square, Moscow, prior to his 2020 escape to Russia days after Wirecard\u2019s collapse. 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