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Two Arrested for Orchestrating Escape of Wirecard Exec Accused of Fraud
The collapsed financial firm had previously supplied cards to several cryptocurrency companies.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 11:00 a.m. Published Jan 25, 2021, 12:46 p.m.
Two Austrian men accused of helping Wirecard's former chief operating officer escape to Belarus have been arrested by police in Vienna.
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- According to a report from the Financial Times on Monday, a former senior official of the Austrian secret service and a former right-wing politician were both apprehended in connection with Jan Marsalek’s escape.
- Marsalek, an Austrian citizen, is on Interpol’s most-wanted list for allegedly masterminding the corporate fraud that ended with Wirecard's collapse and an estimated €1.9 billion (US$2.3 billion) missing.
- Police documents seen by the FT confirm Marsalek escaped to Belarus from Austria last summer using a private jet he paid for with cash.
- Wirecard's troubles caused issues at the time for cryptocurrency firms Crypto.com and TenX, to which it had supplied payment cards.
- Among the accusations of embezzlement, Marsalek is alleged to have sent large amounts of bitcoin to Russia from Dubai, where Wirecard had operated "dubious" services, according to previous reports.
See also: Wanted Wirecard Exec Said to Be Sheltered by Secret Service in Russia
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