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Jan Marsalek

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Jan Marsalek
Born
Jan Maršálek

(1980-03-15) March 15, 1980 (age 44)
Vienna, Austria
NationalityAustrian
Citizenship
  • Russia
  • Austria
OccupationBusiness executive
OrganizationWirecard
Known forWirecard scandal
RelativesHans Maršálek (grandfather)
Capture status
Fugitive
Wanted by
Federal Criminal Police Office
Wanted since5 August 2020

German Wanted poster of Jan Marsalek, 2020
Former residence of Jan Marsalek at Prinzregentenstraße 61.[1]

Jan Marsalek (né Maršálek; born 15 March 1980) is an Austrian fugitive businessman. From 2010 to 2020, he was chief operating officer of the German payment processing firm Wirecard, which became insolvent and collapsed in 2020. Marsalek was responsible for Wirecard's business in Asia, where the company admitted that nearly €2 billion in cash it supposedly held did not exist.[2]

Marsalek and the rest of the company's executive team were dismissed on 18 June 2020, after which he fled Germany. He is now reportedly living in Russia after Interpol issued a "red notice" arrest warrant for his alleged role in the Wirecard scandal. According to investigators, Marsalek had been recruited by Russian intelligence since at least 2010.[3]

Early life

Marsalek attended high school in Austria but dropped out without obtaining a diploma.[4] Marsalek's grandfather, Hans Maršálek, was a member of the Austrian resistance during World War II and was later suspected to be a spy for the Soviet Union.[5] At the age of 19, Jan Marsalek founded an e-commerce software company.[citation needed]

Career with Wirecard

Marselek began working for Wirecard in 2000, initially hired for his knowledge on WAP systems. On 1 February 2010, he became the firm's chief operating officer and also joined the company's executive committee.[6]

Wirecard scandal

Main article: Wirecard scandal

Marsalek and the rest of Wirecard's executive team were terminated on 18 June 2020. According to Bellingcat, an investigative journalism website, Marsalek told colleagues he was going to the Philippines to prove his innocence. Soon afterward he was reported missing.[7] Marsalek is considered a key suspect by German authorities in the Wirecard scandal, in which the company inflated its balance sheet, eventually leading to the company's collapse in 2020.[1]

Marsalek's last known residence was in Munich.[8] An investigation by Bellingcat, Der Spiegel and The Insider indicated that he fled to Minsk, Belarus, just hours after he was fired from Wirecard.[7] On 19 July 2020, the German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that Marsalek was probably in Russia, where he was believed to live under the supervision of the Russian GRU in a mansion near Moscow.[9] According to Die Welt, the BND had information in 2020 that Marsalek was at a Russian FSB training center in Balashikha, a suburb of Moscow.[6]

At the request of Germany, Interpol issued a red notice for Marsalek in August 2020. The notice was a formal request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest him, pending extradition.[10]

In May 2021, the German BND assessed that Marselek remained living near Moscow. The Russian government claimed it was unaware of his whereabouts.[6] According to Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Dossier Center, Marsalek had received Russian citizenship and possessed at least two fake Russian passports in 2021. He reportedly lived under FSB protection at the Meyendorff Castle.[11]

Ties to Russian intelligence

Marsalek became a person of interest in 2020 for at least three Western intelligence agencies due to his associations with the Russian GRU. In Munich, Marsalek had lived opposite the Russian consulate.[1] Russian media and Germany's governing coalition reported that Marsalek made contacts with Russian intelligence through the Austrian-Russian Friendship Society.[6] Among his associates was former GRU colonel Andrey Chuprygin. Marsalek reportedly boasted to companions about his trips to Palmyra, Syria, as a "guest of the Russian military".[1]

Since 2015, Marsalek had reportedly discussed the Libyan crisis with representatives of the Russian government. A company linked to Marsalek by the Financial Times was used by the Wagner Group, an organization of Russian mercenaries, to stage personnel.[1]

A 2023 investigation concluded that Marsalek had been recruited as a Russian intelligence agent for at least a decade.[3] An investigation by German, Austrian and Russian journalists also revealed that in 2020 Russian special services had assigned Marsalek the fake identity of Konstantin Bajazow, an Orthodox priest. Marsalek was issued a Russian passport with this identity, one originally belonging to an actual Orthodox priest from Lipetsk who physically resembles Marsalek. A key role was also played by Natalia Zlobina, who became Marsalek's partner. It was suggested that she may have been recruited as a "honey trap", as she had casually met Marsalek and by 2014 had introduced him to GRU handler Stanislav Petlinsky. Already in 2017, Marsalek and Zlobina made a trip to Syria to visit Wagner Group units there. Marsalek then used the Wirecard company he managed to supply Wagner and other Russian military and influence groups in the Middle East. Through the Swiss adventure group MiGFlug, the pair were able to fly to Russia in an MiG-29 fighter jet.[12]

In 2023 Marsalek contracted with a group composed of five Bulgarian nationals, all later arrested in London after trying to target Russian opposition across Europe.[13] In their September 2023 trial, all five Bulgarians were accused of being part of a Russian spying network in the UK. The prosecution alleged that the network had been given its instructions by Jan Marsalek.[14]

In March 2024, Der Spiegel's English-language website published a detailed investigation into Marsalek's alleged involvement with Russian state agencies.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Murphy, Paul; Jones, Sam; Warrell, Helen (10 July 2020). "From payments to armaments: the double life of Wirecard's Jan Marsalek". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  2. ^ Lebowitz, Shana. "German fintech star Wirecard said $2 billion went 'missing' from its bank accounts. Analysts and accounting professors explain how it could have happened". Business Insider. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b "He's Wanted for Wirecard's Missing $2 Billion. He's Now Suspected of Being a Russian Spy". Wall Street Journal. 15 December 2023.
  4. ^ Bachler, Martina (17 July 2020). "Jan Maršálek - Der meistgesuchte Österreicher der Welt". trend.at (in German). Archived from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Wirecard fraudster Jan Marsalek's grandfather was suspected Russian spy". Financial Times. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d "Ex-Wirecard Exec Still in Moscow After Year On the Run – Reports". Moscow Times. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  7. ^ a b "World's Most Wanted Man Jan Marsalek Located in Belarus; Data Points to Russian Intel Links". bellingcat. 18 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  8. ^ Weiguny, Bettina. "Wirecard-Skandal: Polizei räumt Marsalek-Villa in München". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  9. ^ "Marsalek soll sich nahe Moskau aufhalten" Archived 20 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine tagesspiegel.de, 19 July 2020
  10. ^ Matussek, Karin (13 August 2020). "Wirecard's Jan Marsalek Added to Interpol's Most Wanted List". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Fugitive Ex-Wirecard Exec Obtains Russian Passport – Reports". Moscow Times. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  12. ^ "A most wanted man: Fugitive Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek exposed as decade-long GRU spy". The Insider. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  13. ^ "Geheimidentität von Jan Marsalek in Russland aufgedeckt". ZDFheute (in German). 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Bulgarians accused of being Russian spies appear in UK court". Reuters. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  15. ^ "The double life of former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek". Der Spiegel. 5 March 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
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