Sam Jones in Vienna and Paul Murphy in London
FT investigation sheds light on Wirecard fraudster’s activities in north Africa and shadow life as a Russian agent of influence.
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From a townhouse in London’s Mayfair, a secret deal was sealed last year to sell three Libyan cement factories. Hidden behind layers of offshore shell companies and non-disclosure agreements, the strategic assets passed into the hands of a businessman with connections to General Khalifa Haftar, the Russian-backed warlord who rules the east of the north African country.
But the biggest sensitivity for many of those involved was not the identity of the buyer, but that of a legacy investor in the plants: Jan Marsalek, Europe’s most-wanted financial criminal — and most-hunted Russian spy.
For years Marsalek was the toast of Europe’s business world, a dynamic young executive helping lead German fintech Wirecard to ever-greater heights, until the company was exposed as a fraud. But he was also embroiled in the world of Russian espionage, driven by a fascination with risk and power as well as an outlook on life in which he treated almost everything as a game.
In the five years since Wirecard’s collapse, two central questions about the Austrian’s role have remained a mystery: where did the money he stole end up, and how might it have been used to further Russia’s interests?
An investigation by the Financial Times and German broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk now sheds light on one small but geopolitically important tranche of Marsalek’s missing millions. It is also a story about the shadow battle for control of assets by his former business partners, which has been held in check until now by their desire to keep their ties to Marsalek as quiet as possible.
In the 2020 article that first exposed Marsalek as a likely Russian spy, the FT reported on his interests in Libya. Marsalek had boasted about “his” businesses there, including the Libyan Cement Company. However, LCC’s owners — London-based Libya Holdings Group — denied ever having had anything to do with him.
Now, based on hundreds of pages of leaked documentation, court filings, interviews with current and former employees, investors and consultants, and Marsalek’s own emails obtained after the collapse of Wirecard, a detailed picture of his years-long involvement with LHG, now known as LH Severus, can be revealed. Marsalek’s investments in the country, if he could still access them, are now worth tens of millions of dollars. LCC was just one of them.
Although the sums are small in comparison to the €2bn fraud Marsalek helped mastermind at Wirecard, the Libya projects shine a light on how he operated as an agent of influence, using access to illicit funds and relationships with risk-hungry businessmen to blend his own financial interests with those of his Russian masters.
The paper trail also hints at Marsalek’s political interests in Libya — how he sought to build connections with powerful factions and warlords, showcasing his usefulness to his handlers in Russian intelligence and harnessing people’s greed to further a covert geopolitical agenda.
Marsalek’s Munich-based lawyer, who has represented him in the Wirecard fraud trial, did not respond to requests for comment. Questions remain about whether Marsalek, now in Moscow under the protection of the Russian state, continues to wield any influence over his holdings, and how aware UK authorities are of his financial network in London.
Barely six months since six British-Bulgarian citizens were convicted of spying for Marsalek in a sensational trial at London’s Old Bailey, his erstwhile financial partners — who still operate multimillion-pound businesses and travel around Europe on private jets — say they have not been contacted by security services.
Marsalek’s current involvements in Libya are unclear. But the importance to Russia of the country — a gateway to Africa, a lever to influence Europe, an arms bazaar and a geopolitical bargaining chip — makes the investments and activities of the London network more relevant than ever to Moscow’s agenda.
Marsalek’s financial interests in Libya began a decade ago through a man who would become one of his closest friends. Joe Bowman, a US-born entrepreneur who was based in London but had spent years in Moscow, was exploring opportunities in the north African country including a payments venture. A mutual acquaintance suggested Marsalek could help.
But the Austrian soon became interested in more than just businesses aligned with his day job. Mayfair-based financier Ahmed Ben Halim contacted Bowman in 2015 with an investment proposition. Three Libyan cement factories were on the market at a knockdown price after the bankruptcy of their former Austrian owner.
Ben Halim, the son of a 1950s Libyan prime minister under King Idris, had been forced into exile along with his family after Muammer Gaddafi’s 1969 revolution. He grew up in London where he pursued a career in finance and founded private wealth manager The Capital Partnership. After Gaddafi’s fall in 2011 he set up the Libya Holdings Group to make investments in his native country.
Bowman, who was already operating in Libya, seemed a good fit for the cement plants. The business case was clear: the country’s reconstruction would require huge amounts of cement and the factories could have a chokehold on the resource in the east of the country. Other investors were scouted out and Marsalek came onboard — although his name would never appear on official corporate documentation.
Instead, his investment in LCC came via a Cypriot entity, EuroAtlantic, according to four people involved in the transaction. Officially, the ultimate beneficiary of the LCC shares was EuroAtlantic’s founder, a Dubai-based businessman. Marsalek was his silent partner. Ben Halim and LHG insist they never had any idea the Austrian was involved. However, a close relationship between Marsalek and LCC management — a small group of individuals who reported to Ben Halim and LHG — is clear from email correspondence reviewed by the FT.
Topics discussed include an attempt by LCC to set up an account at Wirecard Bank, and the hiring of Russian mercenary group RSB to clear the cement plants of unexploded ordnance. Marsalek was integral to both projects — at the very least, as a trusted adviser to LCC.
What is more, he soon became involved in an even bigger LHG-backed project: backing an opportunity in 2016 to acquire lucrative assets in Libya through a company called Lorasco, which operates drilling rigs that are rented out to oil companies and is now worth more than $80mn. Marsalek was Lorasco’s anchor investor and ploughed millions into the business with money siphoned off from Wirecard.
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