A fugitive Wirecard executive was likely a Russian agent for nearly a decade: report
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- Jan Marsalek spent 10 years as the COO of the payment-processing giant Wirecard, from 2010 to 2020.
- During that time, he likely worked as a Russian agent, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
- The 43-year-old Austrian is now one of the most-wanted men by Interpol.
A fugitive Wirecard executive likely spent almost 10 years as an agent for the Russian government, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Western intelligence and security official sources told the Journal that Jan Marsalek used his position as Wirecard's COO from 2010 to 2020 to illegally fund Russian spy agencies' covert operations around the world, as well as provide assistance to the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
This involved helping to pay Russian intelligence officers and informants and funneling money into conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa, sources told the newspaper.
The 43-year-old Austrian also likely collected data on Wirecard clients in Munich, including Germany's Federal Criminal Office — the country's equivalent of the FBI — and sent it to Russia, sources told the news outlet.
Marsalek now appears to spend most of his time in Dubai and is currently working with Russian officials to reorganize Wagner's business empire, according to sources cited by the newspaper.
In his role as Wirecard's chief operating officer, Marsalek oversaw transactions worth up to $140 billion a year, on behalf of thousands of companies. For a time he lived in a mansion in Munich he rented for $38,000 a month, and crisscrossed the world on private jets, per the newspaper.
But Marsalek also made more than 60 trips to Russia using six different Austrian passports during his time at the company, according to immigration data reviewed by Bellingcat.
Wirecard imploded after a series of investigations by the Financial Times exposed massive accounting fraud in its Asian operations, which Marsalek was in charge of. Marsalek is accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The payment-processing company filed for insolvency in June 2020, with close to a $2-billion-hole in its balance sheet.
Marsalek flew from Munich to Minsk, Belarus, in 2020, just hours after being fired from Wirecard, an investigation by Bellingcat, Der Spiegel, and The Insider found.
He then went to Russia, where he stayed at a property under the supervision of the Russian military intelligence service, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported at the time.
German authorities have been looking for Jan Marsalek ever since, related to allegations of embezzlement and fraud. He also features on Interpol's most-wanted list.