German fugitive wanted for billion-dollar fraud releases first statement since disappearing 3 years ago

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News
1 min read
0

One of Europe’s most wanted men has communicated publicly for the first time since he disappeared three years ago.

Jan Marsalek, 43, is wanted in Germany in connection with a billion-dollar fraud operation at his old company, payment processor Wirecard.

Marsalek was the company’s COO when investigators exposed the $2.1 billion fraud in 2020. He quickly fled Germany and had not been heard from since.

Speculation has raged in German finance circles and media that Marsalek was actually a Russian spy tasked with meddling in German finance. He’s believed to be dodging Interpol at an estate in Moscow.

But Marsalek’s fellow Wirecard executives were rounded up and put on trial. Earlier this month, Marsalek sent a letter to the court backing his old pals, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

The fraud concerns $2 billion that Wirecard claimed was held in international accounts in Asia. Marsalek was in charge of that money.

The alleged fraud came to a head in 2020, when Wirecard careened into bankruptcy despite its on-paper fortune. Marsalek beat the band out of town, hopping a flight to Minsk, Belarus. He was not heard from again until his letter to the court.

German prosecutors say the overseas $2 billion never existed at all and that Wirecard faked the balances to appear in better financial shape. But Wirecard defendants, including former CEO David Braun, have claimed the money was real. Marsalek’s letter made the same claims, sources told the Financial Times.

Braun’s attorneys have described Marsalek as the mastermind behind the scandal. Marsalek cannot be tried in absentia under German law. He must be captured and brought to court in person.

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