5 ms·

Are there other news sites carrying this? The stories about the threats against the journalist Dan McCrum who was investigating Wirecard between 2014 and 2020

Are there other news sites carrying this? The stories about the threats against the journalist Dan McCrum who was investigating Wirecard between 2014 and 2020 are mental. I've just checked and McCrum has shared this link as well on Twitter so I count that as a reason to trust it.

jcmp 3y ago
It was in cooperation with a lot of the main german news outlets like "Der Spiegel"[1] and "der Standard"[2] both are german tho ;) [1] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/wirecard-skandal-wie-der-manager-jan-marsalek-zum-spion-wurde-a-5cb415ed-0029-4754-8bd5-f4120f4baf83 https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/wirecard-skandal-... [2]https://www.derstandard.de/consent/tcf/story/3000000209638/manager-spion-priester-das-unheimliche-doppelleben-des-jan-marsalek https://www.derstandard.de/consent/tcf/story/3000000209638/m...
- badcppdev 3y ago
  Thank you. Der Spiegel had a paywall as well which slowed me down
  - rallyforthesun 3y ago
    https://archive.is/xZq5p https://archive.is/xZq5p
- FinnKuhn 3y ago
  I know I am nitpicking, but "Der Standard" is Austrian.
hef19898 3y ago
And there I was, believing Marsalek was just another useful idiot, and not a full blown GRU operative. I ahve to say, I am impressed a little bit. Just puzzled about the whole goal of this operation. And bit worried the Wirecard management standing trial right now, can use this to get away with the fraud they actively engaged in.
- md_ 3y ago
  I have not yet read the above linked article, so maybe it already says (or refutes) this, but the long-held rumor was that Wirecard was a useful mechanism for Russians to move around dark money--e.g. for sanctions evasion or payola.
  - hef19898 3y ago
    Don't forget money laundering. It is just tad too high profile for my, compketely unprofessional, taste. Worked long enough so, didn't it?
- dogman144 3y ago
  Goal - money laundering in Europe via a well known and respected payment processor. Full stop.
  - thriftwy 3y ago
    Why did they burn it to the ground them? Why does Petlinsky, who tells the whole story, talks to Spiegel in Dubai? Why the prospective spy Marsalek is driven around the country and gets to know all the namedrops? If something, it seems that Petlinsky is a German agent in Russia. I'm not even sure if the article denies it, too much of a wall of text.
- dralley 3y ago
  https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/hes-wanted-for-wirecards-missing-2-billion-hes-now-suspected-of-being-a-russian-spy-61d79ee2 https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/hes-wanted-for-wirecards-mi... "British prosecutors say that from 2020 to 2023, Marsalek ran a ring of five U.K. based Bulgarians who are alleged to have spied for Russia, directing them to gather information on people with the aim of helping the Kremlin abduct them. Officials say Marsalek was used by Russian intelligence services as a middleman to put distance between them and the spy network as it targeted individuals across Europe." ... "While running Wirecard, Marsalek helped the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, and the SVR, its main overseas spying organization, pay intelligence officers and informants and funnel money into conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa, according to the officials. At the same time, these Western officials suspect Marsalek was gathering information on other customers of Munich-based Wirecard, most notably Germany’s main BND intelligence agency and the Federal Criminal Office, the country’s equivalent of the FBI, and handing it over to Moscow." ... "Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, as well as the country’s equivalent of the FBI, the BKA, told parliament during a public inquiry that ran from September 2020 to June 2021 that they had used Wirecard credit cards and bank accounts for their agents abroad as well as for paying informants at home and abroad. Senior German intelligence officials confirmed this to The Wall Street Journal. " ... "Marsalek ordered Wirecard Bank employees to breach data-protection and other rules to compile data about clients, according to testimony by former executives to German prosecutors. Several intelligence officials said it could have provided information about intelligence agents’ work. Wirecard’s former chief product officer, Susane Steidl, said Marsalek had overruled objections to collecting customer data and told her in 2019 he needed the data for the BND—something the agency categorically denies."
rsynnott 3y ago
FT: https://www.ft.com/content/f15610a0-e94d-4672-bc73-f2e5e364f2d1 https://www.ft.com/content/f15610a0-e94d-4672-bc73-f2e5e364f...
apendleton 3y ago
They broke the story, so I think if anyone else is carrying it, it will be framed as "new report says X" rather than their own independent reporting. But Michael Weiss has written for the Daily Beast, New Lines Magazine, CNN, etc., and Christo Grozev runs Bellingcat, which has a long track record of breaking big stories and winning investigative journalism awards, especially vis a vis Russia.

jcmp 3y ago

It was in cooperation with a lot of the main german news outlets like "Der Spiegel"[1] and "der Standard"[2] both are german tho ;) [1] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/wirecard-skandal-wie-der-manager-jan-marsalek-zum-spion-wurde-a-5cb415ed-0029-4754-8bd5-f4120f4baf83 https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/wirecard-skandal-... [2]https://www.derstandard.de/consent/tcf/story/3000000209638/manager-spion-priester-das-unheimliche-doppelleben-des-jan-marsalek https://www.derstandard.de/consent/tcf/story/3000000209638/m...

badcppdev 3y ago
Thank you. Der Spiegel had a paywall as well which slowed me down
- rallyforthesun 3y ago
  https://archive.is/xZq5p https://archive.is/xZq5p
FinnKuhn 3y ago
I know I am nitpicking, but "Der Standard" is Austrian.

hef19898 3y ago

And there I was, believing Marsalek was just another useful idiot, and not a full blown GRU operative. I ahve to say, I am impressed a little bit. Just puzzled about the whole goal of this operation. And bit worried the Wirecard management standing trial right now, can use this to get away with the fraud they actively engaged in.

md_ 3y ago
I have not yet read the above linked article, so maybe it already says (or refutes) this, but the long-held rumor was that Wirecard was a useful mechanism for Russians to move around dark money--e.g. for sanctions evasion or payola.
- hef19898 3y ago
  Don't forget money laundering. It is just tad too high profile for my, compketely unprofessional, taste. Worked long enough so, didn't it?
dogman144 3y ago
Goal - money laundering in Europe via a well known and respected payment processor. Full stop.
- thriftwy 3y ago
  Why did they burn it to the ground them? Why does Petlinsky, who tells the whole story, talks to Spiegel in Dubai? Why the prospective spy Marsalek is driven around the country and gets to know all the namedrops? If something, it seems that Petlinsky is a German agent in Russia. I'm not even sure if the article denies it, too much of a wall of text.
dralley 3y ago
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/hes-wanted-for-wirecards-missing-2-billion-hes-now-suspected-of-being-a-russian-spy-61d79ee2 https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/hes-wanted-for-wirecards-mi... "British prosecutors say that from 2020 to 2023, Marsalek ran a ring of five U.K. based Bulgarians who are alleged to have spied for Russia, directing them to gather information on people with the aim of helping the Kremlin abduct them. Officials say Marsalek was used by Russian intelligence services as a middleman to put distance between them and the spy network as it targeted individuals across Europe." ... "While running Wirecard, Marsalek helped the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, and the SVR, its main overseas spying organization, pay intelligence officers and informants and funnel money into conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa, according to the officials. At the same time, these Western officials suspect Marsalek was gathering information on other customers of Munich-based Wirecard, most notably Germany’s main BND intelligence agency and the Federal Criminal Office, the country’s equivalent of the FBI, and handing it over to Moscow." ... "Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, as well as the country’s equivalent of the FBI, the BKA, told parliament during a public inquiry that ran from September 2020 to June 2021 that they had used Wirecard credit cards and bank accounts for their agents abroad as well as for paying informants at home and abroad. Senior German intelligence officials confirmed this to The Wall Street Journal. " ... "Marsalek ordered Wirecard Bank employees to breach data-protection and other rules to compile data about clients, according to testimony by former executives to German prosecutors. Several intelligence officials said it could have provided information about intelligence agents’ work. Wirecard’s former chief product officer, Susane Steidl, said Marsalek had overruled objections to collecting customer data and told her in 2019 he needed the data for the BND—something the agency categorically denies."

rsynnott 3y ago

FT: https://www.ft.com/content/f15610a0-e94d-4672-bc73-f2e5e364f2d1 https://www.ft.com/content/f15610a0-e94d-4672-bc73-f2e5e364f...

apendleton 3y ago

They broke the story, so I think if anyone else is carrying it, it will be framed as "new report says X" rather than their own independent reporting. But Michael Weiss has written for the Daily Beast, New Lines Magazine, CNN, etc., and Christo Grozev runs Bellingcat, which has a long track record of breaking big stories and winning investigative journalism awards, especially vis a vis Russia.