E&G Bulgaria | FinTelegram News

Category: E&G Bulgaria

January 25, 2021

Vienna Cybercrime Trials – Marina Barak trial scheduled for March 15 with a new presiding judge

The Israeli fraudster Gal Barak is currently serving his four-year sentence handed down by the court in early September 2020 in the #VCT proceedings. He was one of the principals of the E&G Bulgaria cybercrime organization and found guilty of investment fraud and money-laundering. The German prosecutor's office also wants to charge him and has requested extradition. The trial against his wife, Marina Barak, is scheduled to start on March 15, 2021.

January 19, 2021

Trinity Files – The U.S Case of Gery Shalon, Vienna Cybercrime Trials, and Russian connections

The Georgian-born Israeli Gery "Gabi" Shalon is arguably the mastermind of the world's largest cybercrime organization, stretching over the U.S., Europe, Russia, Georgia, Israel into Asia. The Israeli accountant Ziv Orenstein was one of Shalon's deputies in the U.S. There, they operated illegal gaming schemes and performed the largest cybercrime attack ever on the U.S. financial industry. While waiting for his U.S. trial Shalon continues to operate his cybercrime ventures.

January 11, 2021

Breaking News -German prosecutors filed extradition request for cybercrime principal Gal Barak

Gal Barak was sentenced to four years imprisonment and restitution payments for investment fraud and money laundering as a principal of the Bulgarian cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials (#VCT) opening in early September 2020. It was already clear at the time that other countries would also press charges against Barak if he were found guilty. Barak is currently still in prison in Austria. Germany intends to file charges against him and has sent an extradition request to the Austrian authorities.

January 10, 2021

Vienna Cybercrime Trials – The Written Verdict in the Gal Barak Case

The Vienna Crime Trials (#VCT) are not an official term but is used by FinTelegram to refer to the various court proceedings surrounding the E&G Bulgaria cybercrime organization. In September 2020, the Israeli citizen Gal Barak was convicted as the organization's mastermind. He was sentenced to a 4-year prison term, restitution payments, and already seized $2,5 Mio have been declared forfeited. According to the current information, there will be several indictments and court cases under #VCT.

November 6, 2020

Vienna Cybercrime Trials – Indictment against alleged cybercrime CFO Marina Barak effective!

In early September 2020, Gal Barak, the Wolf of Sofia, was sentenced to four years in prison and reparations payments for investment fraud and money laundering. The Israeli principal of the cybercrime organization of E&G Bulgaria is responsible for tens of thousands of scam victims. Now the charges against his partner and wife Marina Barak became legally effective. She is accused of money laundering. The trial will start early next year.

November 1, 2020

Payvision and the EFRI fight for victims’ money!

Without the collaboration of payment processors, scam operations and online fraud schemes would be very difficult if not impossible. Currently, EFRI, co-founded by FinTelegram, is fighting with the Dutch FinTech Payvision for restitution payments to the victims of scams of Uwe Lenhoff and Gal Barak who has been found guilty of investment fraud and money-laundering in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials ("#VCT").

October 21, 2020

Vienna Cybercrime Trials and the disturbing Balkan Papers

The Israeli scammer and cybercrime principal Gal Barak was sentenced to four years in prison and restitution payments at the beginning of September 2020 at the start of the Vienna Cybercrime Trials ("#VCT"). Further charges against his co-conspirators will follow in various EU jurisdictions. Barak and his partner Uwe Lenhoff have also operated their illegal boiler rooms and payment processors in the Balkans. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network has recently published the Balkan Papers related to the #VCT.

September 29, 2020

Binex Group and the Russian-Ukraine Connection in Vienna Cybercrime Trials

In the first of the Vienna Cybercrime Trials ("VCT"), the Israeli principal of the cybercrime organization operated via the Bulgarian E&G Bulgaria, Gal Barak, was sentenced to four years in prison in early September 2020. One reason for the relatively modest sentence was Barak's confession. Through his lawyers, Barak also submitted documents that massively incriminated his Russian partner Vladislav Smirnov and his Binex Group, making him de facto the mastermind behind the Barak scams.

September 25, 2020

Vienna Cybercrime Trials connected to JP Morgan hack and U.S. Indictment

Georgian-born Israeli Gery Shalon is the son of former Georgian MP and entrepreneur Shota Shalelashvili and the alleged mastermind in the largest financial hack in U.S. history (read DoJ press release). He was arrested in Israel in July 2015 and extradited to the U.S. There he stands in a kind of house arrest, waits for his trial, and is said to help U.S. authorities in their fight against Russia in a bid for leniency.

September 25, 2020

Vienna Cybercrime Trials – Following the Money to former Vienna Stock Exchange CEO

The Israeli Gal Barak was sentenced to four years in prison in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials ("#VCT"). The court ordered that the seized funds and assets be used for restitution payments to the victims. Currently, this is a few million and thus only a fraction of the stolen funds. Millions of the Gal Barak's scams were processed via the Austrian-Ukraine payment processor Fondy, which is controlled by the former head of the Vienna Stock Exchange Stefan Zapotocky.

September 24, 2020

FinCEN Leaks meet Vienna Cybercrime Trials

FinCEN Leaks are currently a big topic in the financial industry. The analysis of the approximately 2,500 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) leaked FinCEN documents demonstrates what FinTelegram has been stretching out for years now - money-laundering is still not really taken seriously by financial institutions. The FinCEN Leaks also have a direct connection to the Vienna Cybercrime Trials and the collapsed Austrian Meinl Bank.

September 9, 2020

#VCT – Gal Barak sentencing effective, millions for victims, and an explanation

On September 1, 2020, at the Vienna Cybercrime Trials, the court found the accused Israeli Gal Barak guilty of (cyber) investment fraud and money laundering and sentenced him to four years in prison. In addition, the victims were granted the funds confiscated by the authorities. Law enforcement has been able to track and seize these funds thanks to a FinTelegram whistleblower. After Gal Barak, his wife Marina Barak has also been served with an indictment.

The Unraveling of Rabidi and the Rise of the SoftSwiss Network: Our Updated Forensic Report

A few months ago, FinTelegram released a first forensic report on the bankruptcy of Rabidi N.V., a Curacao-registered online casino operator with hundreds of millions in revenues — and no traceable assets by the time of its collapse in May 2024. That report already raised serious questions about the opaque structures behind Rabidi’s operations and its successor, Liernin Enterprises Ltd.

DeFi Decoded: Smart Contracts – The Code Behind the DeFi Revolution

Smart contracts are the invisible architects of decentralized finance. These self-executing lines of code run everything from token swaps to lending platforms without middlemen. But while they offer autonomy, they also introduce new risks—bugs, exploits, and irreversible mistakes. In this fourth installment of our FinTelegram DeFi Series, we explain what smart contracts are.

CFTC

Despite New Crypto Friendlyness: No Settlement Between U.S. CFTC And KuCoin?

A planned settlement between the U.S.CFTC and crypto exchange KuCoin is now in limbo due to a reported policy shift within the CFTC. This change is attributed to the Trump administration’s new approach, which deprioritizes enforcement actions against crypto companies. As a result, a CFTC attorney said that it is "unlikely that such authorization will be granted in the near term" regarding the settlement approval.

SEC’s New Era: Paul Atkins Sworn In—Will Crypto Finally Get the Regulatory Clarity It Deserves?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has entered a new chapter with the swearing-in of Paul S. Atkins as its 34th Chairman, a move widely anticipated to mark a dramatic pivot in how the agency approaches crypto and DeFi regulation. For years, the financial industry—especially the burgeoning digital asset sector—has bristled under the SEC’s “Regulation by Enforcement” strategy.

Crypto Mogul Changpeng Zhao – Fallen, Rich, and Rising Again?

As spring 2025 blooms and Easter’s themes of rebirth fill the air, Changpeng Zhao emerges as one of the most controversial figures of startup mythology: a man who fell spectacularly, paid a price—then rose again, wealthier and louder than ever. Once the almighty architect of Binance, CZ now resides in Dubai with a net worth that Forbes estimates at $63 billion.