While proceedings in the Veltyco Cybercrime Scheme are ongoing in Saarbrücken, Germany, another case—E&G Bulgaria—is being pursued in Bamberg by German prosecutor Nino Goldbeck. According to the prosecutor, boiler room agent Sasa Siler has been indicted for allegedly defrauding German-speaking victims through trading platforms such as OptionStarsGlobal, XTraderFX, and Trade Capital. The E&G Bulgaria operation was orchestrated by Israeli national Gal Barak, together with his wife Marina Barak and their associates Gery Shalon and Vladislav Smirnov.
Case Background
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Gal Barak and his wife Marina Barak (formerly Marina Andreeva) were the central figures behind the E&G Bulgaria fraud.
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In September 2020, Barak received a four-year prison sentence and was ordered to pay restitution of approximately €4 million.
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Uwe Lenhoff, the architect of the Veltyco Cybercrime Scheme and an associate of Barak, died in prison in July 2020 under unclear circumstances.
Although Barak and Lenhoff operated separate schemes, they worked together by managing the payment processor Global Payment Solutions Podgorica and running boiler rooms in Serbia. Sasa Siler was employed in one of these Serbian facilities.
Charges Against Sasa Siler
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Date of Birth: February 1971
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Accusation: Participation in the E&G Bulgaria cybercrime organization as a boiler room agent.
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Role: With several accomplices, Siler allegedly targeted and harmed investors from German-speaking countries.
Between February 2018 and April 2019, Siler allegedly used aliases Filip Schultz and Filip Kemp while operating out of a Serbian boiler room linked to the Veltyco scheme. During this time, victims were misled into fraudulent trading on OptionStarsGlobal, XTraderFX, and Trade Capital.
The Payvision Connection
Court documents reveal that a large portion of the victims’ funds from the E&G Bulgaria scams was funneled through Dutch payment processor Payvision.
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Rudolf Booker, founder and former CEO of Payvision, maintained a close business relationship with Uwe Lenhoff, even hiring him as a distributor.
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In this role, Lenhoff brought additional fraudulent operators as Payvision clients.
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These high-risk merchants and the resulting transaction volumes were instrumental in Payvision’s sale to ING for €360 million.
It remains uncertain whether Payvision or Rudolf Booker will face legal consequences based on evidence from the ongoing trials.
Ongoing Coverage
The trial and its implications continue to unfold. Updates will be provided as new developments emerge.
Information Sharing
If you have knowledge regarding the Veltyco Cybercrime Scheme or related fraudulent operations, you can report it confidentially through the whistleblower system on our website.