Broker Scams – Another court hearing scheduled in Sofia for the extradition of Gal Barak and the frozen money!

The Israeli Gal Barak, who lives in Bulgaria, is to be extradited to Austria. After months of investigation, the Austrian authorities issued an EU arrest warrant against Gal Barak at the beginning of 2019. This was the operator of the broker scams XTraderFX, SafeMarkets, OptionStarsGlobal, Golden Markets, and others. He has also operated illegal boiler rooms in Bulgarian, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Georgia through his E&G Bulgaria EOOD. According to the state of investigations and statements by former partners and employees, Barak is said to have defrauded tens of thousands of EU consumers by more than €200 million.

Another court hearing

On 24 September 2019, another court hearing is scheduled in Sofia. For the time being, it is the last date on which the extradition of Gal Barak to Austria is to be decided. According to the EU authorities, the extradition is absolutely necessary in order to clarify the comprehensive cybercrime organization of Gal Barak and his partners Marina Barak (formerly Andreeva), Uwe Lenhoff, Gery “Gabi” Shalon and Vladislav “Vlad” Smirnov. The German Uwe Lenhoff has been in custody already since January 2019. In Germany, he is facing charges of financial crime, money laundering, and investment fraud.

The frozen money in Montenegro

In the meantime, Gal Barak‘s Russian partner Vlad Smirnov is trying to get millions of stolen investor funds from the collapsed Montenegrin Atlas Banka. There they were frozen in the course of a money-laundering investigation. According to reports, these are funds from BINEX customer victims. Vlad Smirnov’s Binex Group LP had subsidiaries in Bulgaria and Montenegro. According to reports, the notorious Israeli lawyer Moshe Strugano is to help him de-freeze the illicit money. More about that soon.