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The once high-flying and now defunct German payment processing and financial services company, Wirecard, fell into oblivion after a fraud that involved the siphoning off of $2 billion from the companys balance sheet in June 2020 was uncovered. A new Wall Street Journal report now says the tainted companys COO Jan Marsalek may have been a Russian agent.
What Happened: Marsalek fled out of Austria in the wake of the revelation and landed in Belarus from where he was taken to Moscow by car, the report said. In Moscow, he was given a Russian passport under an assumed name, it added.
Western intelligence and security officials reportedly said that they have reached the unsettling conclusion that Marsalek was likely a Russian agent for nearly a decade. He reportedly used Wirecard to siphon out money to Russian spy agencies, which, in turn, used the money to fund covert operations around the world.
Marsalek, who is one of the most wanted individuals, provided assistance to late Russian landlord Yevgeny Prigozhins mercenary organization, the report said. He has since been involved in the reconfiguration of his business empire in Africa on behalf of Russian officials from his new domicile in Dubai, the report added, citing Western intelligence.
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Why Its Important: Wirecard started off as a payment processing service for pornography websites and evolved as an Internet behemoth, the Wall Street Journal said. At its peak, the company claimed it processed $140 billion transactions a year, pitting itself against big names such as Square and PayPal Holdings.
Although the company had been accused of accounting malpractices ever since the early days of its incorporation, it was only in 2019 that its wheels came off, after the Financial Times published investigative reports, whistleblower complaints and internal documents.
The company was forced to file for insolvency in June 2020 and its CEO Markus Braun was arrested.
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