In Germany, the proceedings against the former lieutenants of the Israeli scammer Gal Barak, who has already been convicted in Austria for investment fraud and money laundering, continue. The Bamberg public prosecutor's office informed the victims of SafeMarkets, OptionStarsGlobal, and XtraderFX that charges have been brought against the Israelis Kfir Levy, Chen Ganon, and the Bulgarian Stoyan Ivanov Bedrov and how victims can participate in the proceedings!
German prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Chen Ganon last year. The arrest warrant was suspended on bail. There is already an indictment and the trial will follow shortly. Ganon was one of the lieutenants of convicted cybercrime mastermind Gal Barak. As the manager in charge of the SafeMarkets scam Ganon was responsible for thousands of victims worldwide from whom millions were stolen. Ganon ran the boiler room behind SafeMarkets in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
We issued several warnings in 2022 against the broker scams GreenLine a/k/a GreenLinePro and Grow Pro Markets, operated through an Israeli team in Cyprus around Ori Nagar. Nagar was arrested on a warrant issued by German authorities. The scams have since disappeared with their victims' money. We would like to know more about the operators to assist victims and law enforcement with information. Please share your information with FinTelegram.
Gal Barak, an Israeli cybercrime mastermind, sentenced to four years in prison in Vienna in Sept 2020 for investment fraud and money laundering, was charged in Germany in 2021. His Austrian lawyer appealed the extradition, citing the principle of ne bis in idem. In March 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Barak could be charged in Germany. The German Court still works on the new schedule. Hence, victims are still waiting for justice and restitution payments!
Israeli cybercrime mastermind Gal Barak was sentenced in Vienna in September 2020 to four years imprisonment for investment fraud and money laundering. In 2021, Gal Barak was to be extradited from the Austrian prison to Germany because he was also to be charged there. His lawyer has appealed against this, invoking the principle of ne bis in idem. Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that Gal Barak can be charged in Germany.
The news is actually not really new anymore. The Israeli Chen Ganon was arrested in Cyprus a few weeks ago at the request of the German public prosecutor's office. Ganon was one of the managers in Gal Barak's cybercrime organization. He was responsible for the broker scam SafeMarkets and has worked in the boiler rooms in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. We spoke with Ganon several times in 2018, and he confirmed the allegations against Gal Barak and E&G Bulgaria.
Israeli Gal Barak, as principal of the E&G Bulgaria cybercrime organization, was sentenced in Vienna in September 2020 to several years in prison and more than €4 million in restitution. He was released on parole in the fall of 2021 and reportedly returned to Israel by private jet. There he established the Vantage Fund for convicted cybercriminals. His lieutenant Maor Sioni recently got married in Israel. Gal Barak plus his E&G Bulgaria gang were invited and pictured.
Simona Weinglass of The Times of Israel reported that the Greek police arrested the Israeli citizen and Cyprus resident Ori Nagar, 37, at an airport in Thessaloniki last month. German prosecutors had issued an arrest warrant on charges of online investment fraud. Nagar allegedly was one of the ring leaders of a broker and boiler room scam network that defrauded German victims by €1.4 million. Germany requested his extradition.
Chen Ganon was one of the former lieutenants of the convicted principal of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria, Gal Barak. He was the manager in charge of the broker scam SafeMarkets and has managed the boiler rooms in Belgrade and Sarajevo. Until recently, only the Austrian law enforcement prosecuted Ganon. Now the Bamberg prosecutor's office also prosecutes Ganon in Germany.
Evidently, Gal Barak's E&G Bulgaria was not the only cybercrime organization in Bulgaria. On 26 January 2022, the Bulgarian National Police and their international colleagues took down a cybercrime organization allegedly defrauding mainly German and Greek investors of at least EUR 10 million. They searched 24 locations, seized data, computer equipment, and arrested one suspect. Police officers interrogated 66 witnesses in Sofia and Burgas.
The sentence was even a bit harder than we expected. On January 12, 2022, the verdict against the Israeli citizen Jacki Fitelzon was handed down in the court in Munich. The Israeli was one of the co-conspirators of Gal Barak, the so-called Wolf of Sofia. Fitelzon had pleaded guilty to the charges and has now been sentenced to 82 months in prison for commercial and gang fraud. It was also confiscated €760,000. The sentence is not yet final. Fitelzon asked to be transferred to a rehab facility, which the court ordered!