Tag: Ayelet Fruchtlander Knoechelmann
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Wirecard Trial: They Surely Had A Third-Party Acquiring Network!
In the second day of the Wirecard trial, defense attorneys delivered their opening statements. As expected, the defense attorney of former CEO Markus Braun argued that the controversial Third-Party-Acquiring (TPA) had taken place. On the other hand, the defense counsel of Oliver Bellenhaus, who is the prosecution's key witness, claimed that the TPA businessdid not exist. We are certain that the largely dirty TPA business did exist and that many illegal transactions and scams were conducted via it.
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The Untold Story From Wirecard And Powercash21 To Payabl
The Powercash21 scheme is already over 20 years old and was created parallel to the collapsed Wirecard. At that time, the buzzword fintech was not even known. The domain www.powercash21.com was registered in 2000 by Ruediger Trautmann even before he became COO of Wirecard in 2005. From 2001, the website was operated by the German Inatec Group. Among others, the former Wirecard manager Dietmar Kuhl acted as managing director at Inatec. In or around 2011, the Cyprus-registered Powercash21 Limited then took over the website's operation.
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Wirecard Legacy: High-Risk Payment Processor Payabl. And Its Business Model!
While the former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun is waiting for his trial in Germany, the insolvency administrator, Michael Jaffé, is trying to shed light on the scandal and claims damages against the former management and partners. In June 2022, he secured over €220 million from a subsidiary. Meanwhile, high-risk payment processor Payabl, founded and run by former Wirecard top executives, is thriving and promoting itself in an aggressive Wirecard-style on social media.
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Impressive! Payment Processor Payabl Numbers Exploded Powered By Adult Business And Gambling!
The Similarweb September statistics came out and show that the number of visitors to the website of Cypriot-German payment processor Payabl (formerly PowerCash21) increased tenfold in Q3 2022 - from just under 15,000 to almost 140,000. Similarweb says that more than 55% of website traffic has been sourced from porn sites and just under 35% from gambling, betting, and lottery sites. Payabl is thus likely to have replaced the collapsed Wirecard in Germany as the high-risk payment processor, Similarweb suggests!
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Payabl Investment Klarpay Proudly Announced Its Q3 2022 Milestones!
Klarpay is a FINMA-regulated FinTech and received an investment from Payabl Group a few months ago. The latter was founded by former Wirecard executives Ruediger Trautmann, Dietmar Knoechelmann, and his wife Ayelet Fruchtlander-Knoechelmann. Klarpay announced that in Q3 it became a Principal Member of the VISA network and integrated Visa’s B2B Connect, which enables Klarpay’s business customers to perform cross-currency outbound payments. And it introduced Apple Pay.
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Swiss-Cyprus Payabl Investment Klarpay Seems To Grow Fast In Turkey!
A few months ago, the Cyprus-based Payabl. (formerly PowerCash21) founded by former Wirecard managers Ruediger Trautmann, Dietmar Knoechelmann, and his wife Ayelet Fruchtlander Knoechelmann, led a CHF 3 million investment in the Swiss FINMA-regulated Klarpay AG. Key people of Klarpay are based in Cyprus, and Turkey is probably the most important market according to the latest Similarweb statistics. Klarpay appears as a BDSwiss spin-off, with most of its key executives having worked for the CySEC-regulated broker.
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The Fight Of Former Wirecard Managers Against FinTelegram!
While new money laundering allegations against the Wirecard scheme put the collapsed German fintech into the limelight again, the business of former Wirecard managers and partners seems to flourish. Around 2010, former Wirecard managers and partners Ruediger Trautmann, Dietmar Knoechelmann, his wife Ayelet Fruchtlander Knoechelmann, together with Frank Schoonbaert, and Nissim Zarfati established Payabl Group (previously PowerCash21). Here is another update!
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FINMA-Licensed Klarpay Is Focused On Digital Merchants And Influencers!
Klarpay claims to be the first FINMA-licensed Swiss fintech to work exclusively with e-commerce, digital merchants, and social media influencers offering cross-border payment acceptance and remittance solutions, including access to multi-currency IBAN accounts, global payment acceptance, and digital disbursement services. Founded in 2019 by the BDSwiss co-founder Mihkel Vitsur, Klarpay was one of the first Swiss fintech's obtaining a banking license under the news Small Banks Regime. Here is our initial review.
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Follow The Wirecard Money! From Ireland To Cyprus!
Most recently, Interpol issued a Red Notice, and law enforcement in Singapore issued an arrest warrant for the former executive of Wirecard Asia, Edo Kurniawan (report here). In Germany, former CEO Markus Braun is awaiting trial in prison and the COO Jan Marsalek is on the run. The fact is that large areas of the Wirecard scheme remain in the dark. FinTelegram is joining its whistleblowers in the search for the missing money and the Wirecard legacy. Here's another update showing the timeline from Inatec to Payabl.
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Where Are The Wirecard Millions? An Investigative Journey Searching For Answers!
At the end of the day, the only big question at Wirecard was where around €1.9 billion remained. The Wirecard collapse in 2020 triggered one of the biggest financial scandals in Germany. While founder and CEO Markus Braun is still in pre-trial custody, his Chief Operating Officer Jan Marsalek is on the run. The real question at Wirecard, however, is how the organization was structured at the time and whether the money was really ever at Wirecard. FinTelegram tries to connect some dots!