Tag: OptionStars

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!

We reported yesterday on the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Gal Barak case. In 2020, he was convicted and sentenced for investment fraud and money laundering in Austria; additional charges are possible in other jurisdictions. In Germany, Gal Barak and his wife, Marina Barak, are to be charged as ringleaders of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria. Barak had entered a ne bis in idem plea. Apparently unsuccessfully. Thus, German prosecutors can proceed with their charges.

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.

In Austria, another trial in the environment of Israeli Gal Barak's cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria will begin in a few weeks. Barak was sentenced in 2020 for investment fraud and money laundering to several years of imprisonment and about €4 million in restitution payments that he has not paid yet. Criminal records show that Gal Barak, his wife, Marina Barak, and his partners, Gery Shalon and Vladislav Smirnov, earned around €38 million between 2017 and 2019 alone.

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.

ING's current subsidiary Payvision will close in 2023. The reason for this was the massive involvement of Payvision in cybercrime and money laundering activities under its founder and former CEO Rudolf Booker. Booker sold Payvision to ING for around €350 million in 2018. How unabashedly Booker did business with cybercrime organizations as CEO is shown files from the criminal proceedings against convicted fraudster Gal Barak. Here is a remarkable scene from the criminal file!

GreenBox POS is a California-based FinTech company specializing in payment solutions on the blockchain. The company has been listed on Nasdaq with the symbol GBOX since February 2021 and currently has a market capitalization of around $450M. Transact Europe is a Bulgarian financial institution with an intense past in the largely fraudulent binary options industry. Transact Europe was one of the facilitating payment processors of Gal Barak and his Bulgarian E&G Bulgaria. GreenBox POS is to acquire Transact Europe for $30M in cash.

E&G Bulgaria allegedly defrauded tens of thousands of consumers in Europe out of more than €200 million with its scams According to law enforcement agencies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the principals of this organization were Israelis Gal Barak and Gery Shalon and their Russian partner Vladislav Smirnov. Barak was sentenced in Austria in September 2020 to four years in prison and restitution payments in the millions for investment fraud and money laundering. His wife, Marina Barak, who was also charged, was acquitted; the prosecutors appealed.

Gal Barak was sentenced in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials as one of the masterminds behind the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria to four years in prison and millions in restitution payments for investment fraud and money laundering. His Bulgarian wife Marina Barak faces the same charges and is currently on trial. Gal Barak gave false testimony at the trial of his wife and was consequently charged by the prosecution for that. As private prosecutors, the EFRI lawyer and its principal Elfriede Sixt accompany the trials representing the victims' voice!

Israeli Gal Barak was sentenced to four years in prison for investment fraud and money laundering as one of the principals of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials in September 2020. His wife, Marina Barak, is also charged and is currently on trial. Gal Barak is currently being extradited to Germany, where he will also be charged. In Germany, a former Bulgarian co-conspirator responsible for dozens of victims as boiler room manager is already waiting in prison. This Bulgarian going by the stage name James Morra earned a small fortune by defrauding unsuspecting victims.

For FinTelegram readers, it is certainly no secret that we are hunting scam-supporting payment processors. These payment processors are even worse than the scams themselves. Scams come and go while payment processors stay and support new scams all the time. They know the scammers and where the money goes. They facilitate these scammers in defrauding ever-new victims. One of these evil payment processors is Russian-born Australian Vladislav "Vlad" Kogan. He has laundered hundreds of millions for dozens of scams with his Czech registered Xtrabit s.r.o.

Gal Barak was found guilty as charged in early September 2020 as the head of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria for investment fraud and money laundering. He was sentenced to four years in prison. Also, millions of Euros frozen in Bulgarian bank accounts were confiscated for restitution payments. Barak is about to be extradited to Germany, where he is also charged with operating the fraudulent brokers. His partner and wife, Bulgarian Marina Barak, will stand trial as his accomplice and CFO of E&G Bulgaria. She is expected to plead not guilty.