Europe’s ‘most wanted’ uncovered as Russian spy boss on the run

Europe’s ‘most wanted’ Russian spy boss, who is currently on the run, has links to a operating in the UK. An investigation by The Telegraph has revealed that Jan Marsalek is accused of providing the Kremlin with troves of sensitive data about Germany’s spy agencies.

Alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, 44, is an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard.

He is also accused of beginning behind a €1.9 billion (£1.59 billion) black hole in one of Germany’s largest internet banking companies, Wirecard, where he was the chief operating officer (COO). He is also accused of working with a number of Western spy agencies and “playing them off” against each other. Sources told the Telegraph that Jan, a high dropout from Austria, may have been one of the “greatest assets” Western intelligence agencies had at their disposal. Jan is now believed to be living in Moscow under the protection of ‘s spy goons. He was last seen on the night of June 19, 2020, with bags of cash for his escape from a tiny Australia airfield.

Details of Jan’s extraordinary life have been revealed after the ring of Bulgarian spies he is accused of running in the UK was found guilty of working for the Kremlin. Spy ringleader Orlin Roussev, his second in command, Bizer Dzhambazov, and agents Vanya Gaberova, Katrin Ivanova and Tihomir Ivanchev were all found guilty of conspiracy to spy at the Old Bailey on Friday. It is understood they carried out surveillance on the ground.

Marsalek acted as a go-between for Russian intelligence and Roussev, who led the operation from a former guesthouse in Great Yarmouth.

He received more than € 200,000 (over £165,600) to fund the spying activities and had a treasure trove of sophisticated spyware stashed in his home.

Criminal allegations against Jan date back to 2015 and British intelligence was warned as far back as 2018 about his links to .

Jan was born in Vienna on March 15, 1980, and is the son of a timber merchant and the grandson of Hanz Marsalek, a Czech communist who was suspected of spying for the Russians while working as an officer for the Austrian state police. Jan was seen as a model student at school but dropped out to work for a tech company in Bavaria, Germany.

What followed was a meteoric rise through Wirecard, a start-up payments processor that carried out business established banks avoided and eventually landed the role of COO.

Martin Osterloh, who worked alongside Jan for 15 years, said he was “extremely eloquent, a rhetorical master”. He said: “He really was my idol in terms of communication. He had this art of saying certain things in a way that you just wanted to write down.

“He had many, many occasions when he came late to a meeting, he would walk in half an hour late, even with some of our big clients, and this was very disrespectful. But when Jan walked in, it didn’t matter because he was so charming; they would forgive him instantly.”

In 2011, Jan became a “senator” of the Austrian-Russian Friendship Society, a networking society that promoted closer ties between the two countries and was known for hosting lavish parties. It is here where Jan is believed to have started his love for – a country he travelled to 60 times before escaping – and caught the eye of ‘s secret service, the FSB.

Jan eventually met and started a relationship with Natalia Zlobina, an erotic model who had acted in B movies. According to The Telegraph, it was on board a yacht in Nice when Zlobina introduced Jan to his Russian “handler” Stanislav Petlinksy. What ensued was years of risky escapades across the globe and in warzones in Syria and Lybia, where Jan is accused of being involved with Russian mercenaries and the illegal migration trade.

As Jan’s importance within Wirecard grew, so did his influence with the Russian intelligence service. In 2013, Germany’s federal police officer – the BKA – and its intelligence service, the BND, starting issuing agents with pre-paid cards from Wirecard. This information could provide an enemy state a snapshot of Germany’s intelligence operations as well as open agents up to blackmail, according to one insider.

Jan would also have links with Martin Weiss, then chief of Austrian intelligence operations, and Egisto Ott, a former police officer and secret agent who had worked under Weiss at Austria’s federal office for the protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT).

The men have denied allegations of being involved in espionage activities that benefitted . Also among Jan’s contacts was Rami El Obeidi, who was then head of foreign intelligence for Libya. It’s also understood Jan met with General Khalifa Haftar, a Libyan warlord. Jan also bragged about having the for Novichok, the poison that had been used in the attack on Sergei Skripal.

But Jan’s world would soon fall apart. Following years of accusations around Wirecard’s business transactions, KPMG were called in to assess their books in April 2020. The audit agency questioned €1bn in cash balances supposedly held in Singapore. Two days later, German prosecutors questioned €1.9bn the company allegedly held.

This prompted Jan to go on the run. He told authorities he was going to the Philippines to look for the missing money and had immigration officials forge records to throw German investigators off his trail. He would later fly to Minsk, Belarus, and be driven to . He has not been seen since.

Those closest to him say Jan is still alive and is helping in a secret project to supply drones from China for use in the war in and in the selling of weapons captured by Putin’s forces on the battlefield back to the People’s Liberation Army, allowing Beijing to uncover Western military secrets. He is also said to be part of efforts to track down and kill Putin critics like Roman Dobrokhotov, the editor of investigative news site The Insider, and is involved in running Wager, a private military group, following Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death, security sources have said.

Marsalek discussed kidnapping Dobrokhotov by boat, opining: “A successful operation on British ground would be amazing after the f**** up Skripal stuff.”

Ultimately, he concluded Operation Boat was too dangerous, telling Roussev: “If something goes wrong the UK authorities have a minimal response time between identifying your involvement and going after you.”

In September 2023, Jan’s name appeared on a charge sheet against a Bulgarian spy ring operating in the UK. Counter-terrorism officers had uncovered tens of thousands of messages between the Austrian and Orlin Roussev, it was alleged, which had been used to direct the other Bulgarians on the ground.