In April 2025, Mohamad Shaker — the head of the largest boiler room in German cybercriminal Uwe Lenhoff’s vast cybercrime empire — was sentenced to 8 years in prison by a German court. Shaker's conviction marks another milestone in dismantling one of Europe’s largest cybercrime organizations. Yet, while some lieutenants have faced justice, the key facilitators — including executives of Payvision and the Amsterdam-based money laundering network — remain untouched.
Bet 90 Sports Limited d/b/a Bet90 in Malta is regulated by MGA and was a venture of the Veltyco cybercrime organization of alleged cybercrime mastermind Uwe Lenhoff and his partner Betim Tasholli. While Lenhoff died in pre-trial detention in the summer of 2020, Tasholli is currently being tried in Germany. The former MGA official Iosif Galeo used to be the director of Bet90 in Malta. Recently, he has arrested in Italy with an EU arrest warrant. Additionally, he is suspected to be part of an MGA-centered corruption racket.
Montenegrin-born lawyer Marko Vujosevic had a thriving law practice in Belgrade until 2020. His law firm participated in the fraudulent binary options industry and procured dozens if not hundreds of work permits for Israeli citizens. With the cybercrime masterminds, Uwe Lenhoff and Gal Barak co-founded the illegal payment processor Global Payments Solutions DOO (GPS) in Podgorica that laundered millions for binary options like Option888 or TradoVest. After a lost defamation claim, Vujosevic's law firm seems to have vanished. Google says it is temporarily closed.
German law and tax enforcement agencies have recently started investigating international iGaming companies operating in Germany. Several MGA-regulated Malta-based iGaming companies received letters from the German tax authorities. iGaming operators are subject to German VAT and sports betting tax if the German market is targeted. Not reporting these taxes is seen as tax evasion and thus a criminal offense and causes liability for the directors such as Iosif Galea. He was arrested!
The E&G Bulgaria Cybercrime Scheme is dealt with by German prosecutor Nino Goldbeck in Bamberg. The German prosecutor informed that the boiler room agent Sasa Siler has also been charged for allegedly defrauding German-speaking victims with OptionStarsGlobal, XTraderFX, or Trade Capital. The mastermind behind E&G Bulgaria was the Israeli Gal Barak with his wife Marina Barak and their partners Gery Shalon and Vladislav Smirnov.
The first trial in the so-called Veltyo Cybercrime Scheme is currently taking place in Saarbruecken, Germany. The defendants are two Kosovans, Betim Tasholli and Azem Spahiu, and the Syrian Mohamad Shaker. Tasholli was the boiler room manager in Pristina, Shaker was responsible for the boiler room in Prague and Spahiu was responsible for the coordination of affiliate marketing around the scam brands Option888, ZoomTrader, TradoVest, or XMarkets. Affiliate marketing was carried out by Miriam Wewermann and Benjamin Wewermann.
In Germany, the cybercrime trials against the so-called Veltyco Cybercrime Scheme started. The scheme's alleged mastermind, Uwe Lenhoff, died in prison in July 2020. Cause of death unknown. Some of his lieutenants and co-conspirators have to stand trial nevertheless. According to the prosecutors, they allegedly cheated more than 1,100 German investors out of almost €42 million. The trial started with the 29-year-old Kosovo guy Azem Spahiu. He and his friend Betim Tasholli have been operating boiler rooms for the cybercrime scheme in Kosovo.
The trial against the ringleaders of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria is currently underway in Munich, Germany. Gal Barak was already sentenced to four years in jail in Vienna in Sept 2020. Almost unnoticed, the preparation of charges against several ringleaders of the cybercrime organization around the late Uwe Lenhoff and the Veltyco Group is currently underway in Saarbrücken. Criminal records show that MoneyNetInt was massively involved in Lenhoff's money laundering.
Police from Kosovo and Germany conducted a razzia against people and companies in the Veltyco environment in Kosovo. The authorities suspect money laundering and seized documents, bank accounts and properties.