A CryptoTicker report resurfaced concerns about PR-distribution brands Chainwire/FinanceWire/MediaFuse and their CEO/co-founder Nadav Dakner, pointing back to the Gladius Network ICO case and alleged ties that ripple into the Gery Shalon–Vladimir Smirnov–Gal Barak cyber-fraud complex. We review the record, separate allegations from facts, and spell out the compliance red flags.
A 2018 lawsuit in the U.S. filed by Gladius Network LLC against Krypton Blockchain Holdings Ltd. presents significant insights into the intricate web of business relations, cybercrime allegations, and investment disputes involving high-profile cybercrime activists. This case further substantiates the involvement of Gery Shalon, aka Garri Shalelashvili, and his Russian partner Vladimir Smirnov as the true beneficial owners behind the companies associated with Israeli national Ilan Tzorya.
In March 2022, the Seychelles Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit involving Oldypak Capital LP and GV Holdings Limited against Tempox Holdings Limited (formerly Tradologic HK Limited), Ilan Tzorya, and DTI Group Inc. This case further implicates the beneficial owners of the plaintiffs, Gery Shalon and Vladislav Smirnov, in the massive cybercrime operation surrounding E&G Bulgaria and Tradologic.
Novox Capital, once a CySEC-regulated company, operated some "regulated" binary options brands. Additionally, Novox provided services to numerous scam schemes and offered them a regulatory umbrella: Option888 of Uwe Lenhoff, OptionStars of Gal Barak, and many others. The beneficial owners of the Novox Group were the cousins' Shay Hillel and Yehoram Hillel. They were also the main shareholders of the broker software company Tradologic. Novox and the Hillels are also at the center of the various trials.
More trials against binary options scam operators or their facilitators coming up in the first half of 2023. The former beneficial owners of the (then) CySEC-regulated Novox Capital Ltd are also in the spotlight: the Israelis Shay Hillel, Yehoram Hillel, and their partner and frontman Israel Bash. They are currently not charged however the prosecution alleges that their Novox Capital had been massively involved in running and facilitating vast binary options scams. Gal Barak and his cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria were a close partner and client of Novox Capital.
Israeli Gal Barak, sentenced in September 2020 to four years in prison for investment fraud and money laundering, was a ringleader of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria. He was released from jail on probation. He currently runs defamatory websites in which he slanders FinTelegram, EFRI, and his former partner. An EU court has ordered the hoster SmartApe to delete the articles, but the court order has not been served yet. We are therefore looking for the whereabouts of its director Mark Tepterev.
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.
In September 2020, an Austrian court sentenced Gal Barak, the Wolf of Sofia, to four years in prison for investment fraud and money laundering. He was recently released on parole and is currently staying in Israel, where he gave an interesting interview to Calcalist in August 2021. He spoke openly about the fraud and manipulation with his scam brands XtraderFX, OptionStarsGlobal, SafeMarkets, and Golden Markets. According to Barak, everyone in the organization was aware of the fraud.
Maor Sioni has referred to Gal Barak's cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria as his family. In proper mafia parlance. Sioni was one of the family's executives. Another executive, Tal-Jacki Fitelzon is currently standing trial in Munich, Germany. The indictment accuses him of being a ringleader of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria, which allegedly defrauded tens of thousands of consumers worldwide out of more than €200 million with its scams. Jacki has already pleaded guilty to this charge as a ringleader of the Mafia family.
On day #1 of the Munich Trial, the 44-year old Israeli Jacki Fitelzon offered a guilty plea including a full and comprehensive confession in exchange for a moderate sentence. Prosecutor and the defense attorney agreed on a sentencing between 78 to 84 months prison time. The final decision is up to the judge. In addition, the defense attorney offered that all the claims of the victims represented by EFRI would be recognized. The prosecutor started with his questions before the trial was adjourned to next Friday.
Israeli Gal Barak is a nice and funny guy in private. But yet his business is scams and online investment fraud. He was one of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria principals and was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in September 2020. He was the Wolf of Sofia! Remarkably friendly sentencing given the alleged €200 million his victims' losses amounts to. His Israeli lieutenants Tal-Jacki "Jacki" Fitelzon and Kfir Levy, are currently in pre-trial detainment in Germany. The trial against "Jacki" will start on November 22, 2021, in Munich. Others will follow suit. Another update!
Israeli Gal Barak was sentenced in September 2020 to four years in prison and millions in restitution payments for investment fraud and money laundering in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials. Barak also faces charges in Germany. He was the head of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria, which operated broker scams such as XtraderFX, SafeMarkets, Golden Markets, or OptionStarsGlobal. Payvision was its main payment facilitator, and PandaTS, the white label provider, which Barak charges with similar arguments as the U.S. SEC does in its SpotOption fraud complaint.