German Michael Gastauer is a hustler on the gray and black side of the financial market. Not coincidentally, his latest company is called Black Banx (previously WB21) and promises to get bank accounts for individuals and merchants accounts in over 180 countries in minutes. On LinkedIn and its website, Black Banx claims to have 8 million customers and $10 billion in monthly transaction volume. We doubt the figures of this high-risk and dark side payment processor. The UK FCA has issued a warning against Black Banx.
Key data
| Trading name | Black Banx (prev WB21) |
| Domains | https://blackbanx.com https://blackbanx.co www.gastauer.com www.michaelgastauer.com |
| Legal entities | Black Banx Inc. (Canada) Black Banx Holdings Ltd (UK) Black Banx Ltd (UK) Bbg Share Trust (Bahamas) World Cash Ltd (UK) and a network of companies |
| Principals | Michael Gastauer, Germany (LinkedIn) Phillip Gastauer, Germany, Raimund Gastauer, Germany Simone Gastauer-Foer, Germany, Marin-Damut Smeu, Romania Alexandru Florin Smeu, Romania |
| Jurisdiction | Canada, Germany, Hong Kong et al |
| Scam involvements | OneCoin, QuadrigaCX, Roger Knox |
| Warnings | FCA |
Some narratives
On his various websites, such as www.gastauer.com or www.michaelgastauer.com, Michael Gastauer presents himself as a billionaire and financial guru. His Gastauer Foundation claims to have $10 billion in assets under management (AUM). The website purports his investments in FinTech would be worth more than $2.2 billion. We believe this is just utterly unrealistic imposture.
In Q1 2019, Gastauer rebranded his unregulated financial services venture WB21 into Black Banx (www.blackbanx.co). The group’s Canadian Black Banx Inc. has been operating as a registered Money Service Business (MBS) in Toronto since June 2018. Gastauer’s payment processing network is notorious for facilitating illicit businesses. The U.S. SEC filed a complaint against Michael Gastauer for his alleged involvement in a vast securities manipulation scheme. Gastauer and his payment venture have also been involved in the OneCoin crypto fraud scheme and the collapse of the Canadian crypto-exchange QuadrigaCX.
Read the story of Michael Gastauer and Black Banx here!
For years Gastauer has attracted attention by claiming to have many billions of euros under management (asset under management). On his website www.michaelgastauer.com, Michael Gastauer presents himself as a mixture of Markus Braun and Steven Jobs. All in black and mysteriously super-rich. Gasteuer is vain and loves the public.
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If you have information about Black Banx or Michael Gastauer, please share it with us through our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
