A payments provider and once one of the most successful Fintechs in Germany, Wirecard collapsed into a pile of allegations of fraud and misconduct. Wirecard, at one time part of the DAX and valued in the billions of dollars, became a huge embarrassment for regulators and other officials with oversight of the firm. Wirecard was eventually sold as pieces and parts in bankruptcy proceedings.
When allegations of fraud first became apparent, the then CEO was arrested but the COO Jan Marsalek disappeared. Marsalek ended up on Interpol’s most-wanted list. He remains on the list today.
In recent days a collaboration between Der Spiegel, Der Standard, ZDF and the Insider, have revealed that Marselek was not only a fraudster but a Russian spy working for GRU and also doing projects for the FSB (previously the KGB). The Russian GRU is the military intelligence agency and apparently the largest foreign intelligence agency in Russia.
There have been claims that Marsalek created a system to pilfer funds to line his own pockets.
As for Marsalek, the report indicates he is living under an assumed identity in Russia – something that has been rumored for years. According to the Insider report, Marsalek has assumed the identity of an Orthodox priest named Father Konstantin Baiazov, who lives in the Russian city of Lipetsk.
Marsalek, who was born in Austria, is said to have spied for Russia for the past ten years, long before Wirecard collapsed but after he joined Wirecard as a top executive. The type of information he apparently provided for his masters has not yet been disclosed.
As for the German authorities, the fact that Marsalek was not only a fraudster but a Russian spy is another black eye for public officials in the ongoing saga. Perhaps the only good thing to emerge from the financial fiasco is that we can expect a movie at some time to share the fantastic story of subterfuge, skulduggery, and fraud.