A folder with mugshots of former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek in front of the committee of inquiry into the Wirecard AG accounting scandal on March 19, 2021 in Berlin. Getty Images
Jan Marsalek was Chief Operating Officer of payment processing giant Wirecard for ten years, from 2010 to 2020.
During this time he was probably working as a Russian agent, sources told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The 43-year-old Austrian is one of Interpol’s most wanted people.
A report from „WSJ“ According to reports, the fugitive Wirecard manager Jan Marsalek probably worked as an agent for the Russian government for almost ten years.
Western intelligence and security officials told the newspaper that Jan Marsalek is said to have used his position as COO of Wirecard from 2010 to 2020 to illegally finance covert operations by Russian spies around the world. He is also said to have supported the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
This includes helping to pay Russian intelligence officers and informants as well as smuggling money into conflict areas in the Middle East and Africa, the sources told the WSJ.
The 43-year-old Austrian probably also collected data on Wirecard customers in Munich, including the Federal Criminal Police Office, and sent it to Russia, the sources said.
Marsalek now appears to spend most of his time in Dubai and is currently working with Russian officials to reorganize Wagner’s business empire, the sources said.
In his role as Chief Operating Officer of Wirecard, Marsalek oversaw transactions worth up to $140 billion (approximately €128 billion) per year – on behalf of thousands of companies. For a while he lived in a villa in Munich, which he rented for around 35,000 euros a month, and traveled around the world in private jets, according to the newspaper.
According to immigration data provided by the Research Network Bellingcat were evaluated, Marsalek made more than 60 trips to Russia with six different Austrian passports during his work for the company.
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Wirecard imploded after a series of investigations by the „Financial Times“ had uncovered a massive accounting fraud in the Asian divisions for which Marsalek was responsible. Marsalek is accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The payment processing company filed for bankruptcy in June 2020, with a nearly $2 billion hole in its balance sheet.
Marsalek flew from Munich to Minsk, Belarus, in 2020, just hours after being fired from Wirecard Research from Bellingcat, “Der Spiegel” and “The Insider”.
He then traveled to Russia, where he lived in a house monitored by Russian military intelligence.
Since then, the German authorities have been searching for Jan Marsalek on suspicion of embezzlement and fraud. He is also on the most wanted list of Interpol.
This article was translated from English by Jonas Metzner. Read the original article Business Insider.
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