Jan Marsalek (also Maršálek, born 15 March 1980 in Vienna) is an Austrian alleged

white-collar criminal The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. It was first defined by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as "a ...

and former manager, known for his position as board member and

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of the German payment processing firm

Wirecard Wirecard AG is an insolvent German payment processor and financial services provider whose former CEO, COO, two board members, and other executives have been arrested or otherwise implicated in criminal proceedings. In June 2020, the company ann ...

. He has been a fugitive since June 2020 because of his role in the

Wirecard scandal The Wirecard scandal (German: ''Wirecard-Skandal'') was a series of corrupt business practices and fraudulent financial reporting that led to the insolvency of Wirecard, a payment processor and financial services provider, headquartered in Munic ...

Biography

Marsalek went to school in Austria, but did not obtain a degree. At the age of 19, he founded an e-commerce software company. He started working for Wirecard in 2000 and was 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 board. His last known residence before he became a fugitive was in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Accusations

Marsalek is considered one of the main culprits in the Wirecard accounting scandal. The

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

reported that Marsalek is a person of interest for a number of European governments due to his alleged links to Russian intelligence. Investigation by

Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised as bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 20 ...

, Der Spiegel, and The Insider indicated that Marsalek flew to

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

hours after he was fired. On 19 July 2020, the German

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German language, German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf by Handelsblatt Media Group, formerly known as Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. History and profile ''Hand ...

reported that Marsalek was suspected to be in Russia, where he was believed to live under supervision of

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

in a mansion near

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. According to Russian media, Marsalek could have been a long-time asset of GRU, recruited at the end of the 1990s through the

Austrian-Russian Friendship Society The Austrian-Russian Friendship Society (ORFG) is a networking society that hosts meetings between Austrians and Russians in areas such as agriculture, politics, education and culture. The ORFG Network allows its members to participate in discussi ...

. Among his friends were GRU colonel Andrey Chuprygin, Stanislav Petlinskiy, former officer to the Presidential Administration in Russia, as well as Rami al-Obeidi, former chief of Libyan intelligence. Marsalek boasted about trips he made to Palmyra as a "guest of the Russian military" and helped set up the presence of

Wagner Group The Wagner Group (russian: Группа Вагнера, Gruppa Vagnera), also known as PMC Wagner ( «Вагнер», ChVK «Vagner»; ), is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), ...

in Libya. In August 2020,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...

issued a

red notice An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...

for Marsalek, which is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest him, pending extradition.

References

External links

Search for Jan Marsalek
by the

Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany) The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (in German: ', abbreviated ') is the federal investigative police agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. It is headquartered in Wiesbaden, Hesse, and mai ...

Jan Marsalek
on Europe's Most Wanted Fugitives list from Europol 1980 births Fugitives wanted by Germany Fugitives wanted on fraud charges Living people {{Austria-bio-stub

Biography

Accusations

See also

References

External links