The good news first. This story has “potential for Netflix.” FinTelegram and the FinTelegram team have been threatened by the Israeli scammers for months now with DDOS attacks and lawsuits. And kill threats. After a €5 million bribe did not work, Gal Barak, the Israeli owner and manager of boiler room operator E&G Bulgaria and operator of broker scams like XTraderFX, SafeMarkets, OptionStarsGlobal, and CryptoPoint, ordered the murder of FinTelegram’s publisher. The authorities are investigating this matter and taking these threats seriously.
The bribery attempt It all started when Gal Barak contacted the editor of FinTelegram through his Israeli lawyer in January 2019. In Vienna, a meeting was planned. Gal Barak wanted to clarify the misunderstandings and make sure that FinTelegram had all the information.
The meeting has been prepared. Undercover agents attended the meeting and recorded it. Gal Barak not only made an offer of €5 million at this meeting, but he also said that he runs XTraderFX and other scams. He impliedly confirmed the respective reports from FinTelegram. He has even stated that the millions will be organized through his partners Gery Shalon and Vladislav Smirnov which would ensure that the money would be “laundered money”. All details have been recorded. EU arrest warrant and kill order
Shortly afterward, an EU arrest warrant was issued against Gal Barak and Uwe Lenhoff. Not only because of this meeting, but also because of months of negotiations and the collaboration of some former partners who were able to prove in every detail that Barak has stolen millions a year from small investors. It’s all documented.
Gal Barak was arrested in Sofia and awaits extradition to Austria. Uwe Lenhoff, his partner, was taken into custody in Austria and extradited to Germany. Austria wants Barak to be extradited from Bulgaria to Austria. Like Uwe Lenhoff, his partner Marina Andreeva is a suspect in this crime. Based on the available documentation, we are aware that she is the CFO of these schemes and is directly accountable for the losses incurred by tens of millions of retail investors. She has ordered the banktransfers, coordinated the money laundering and contributed to the misery of many retail investors. We have all of the bank statements, notary deeds, WhatsApp messages, and phone logs. Barak defends himself against this extradition with the most expensive lawyers in Bulgaria and Austria. We learned that in Israel some of the more ethically-acting lawyers by now refuse to work for binary option fraudsters knowing what immense harm the fraudsters are bringing to European retail investors.
The Austrian lawyers Stefan Huber and Peter Lewisch (by the way an Austrian professor teaching criminal law at the University of Vienna) of Gal Barak have sent a warning to one of FinTelegram’s hosting partners and threatened with legal action if the articles about Gal Barak and his partner Marina Andreeva do not go offline. So at least we know what the victims’ money is used for – to fight against the law.
In the meantime, the victims are being bombarded with calls and emails that tell them about new great trading opportunities and great ways to recover their losses—all they have to do is pay the con artists several thousand euros more. New fraudulent trading websites are set up on a daily basis and based on some rumors Gal Barak is again busy in defrauding people – as a matter of fact, he has to earn the money to pay one of the most expensive law company in Austria and also one of the most expensive law company in Bulgaria – and of course someone has to pay for the alleged bribery efforts.
The Gal Barak sufferers In the lawyer’s letter to the hosters of FinTelegram, Gal Barak and Marina Andreeva deny that they are behind the fraudulent broker scams like XTraderFX. Interesting, because FinTelegram and EFRI have communicated about it with Gal Barak in January 2019. He confirmed in this communication that he runs XTraderFX and that he would like to compensate all victims who have contacted EFI. After the in-person meeting, this WhatsApp communication took place. We explicitly requested Gal Barak’s permission to inform the XTraderFX victims that he would compensate them. He also confirms it. Authorities have not requested any reporting. FinTelegram was requested by the authorities not to report the details of the investigation, the death threats, and other findings. That’s what we’ve been sticking to until now. But if FinTelegram is threatened directly, we are no longer bound by this agreement.
In this respect, we will bring more details about the case of Gal Barak, Marina Andreeva and their criminal organization in the next few days.
Good News and Netflix Script
Here is the good news for the readers of FinTelegram. As was previously mentioned on FinTelegram, we have distributed our website through various hosting companies. We are aware that scammers like Gal Barak and Marina Andreeva have the means to buy a CHSH office.
The irony here is that Gal Barak refers to the rights that he and his partner Marina Andreeva deny each of their investor victims-clients. the accuracy of the information and privacy protections. Well, we can promise that FinTelegram will continue to report honestly, openly and fearlessly.