FinTelegram has reported since the beginning of 2018 about the binary options and online scams of the German Uwe Lenhoff and his Veltyco Group PLC (now Bet90 Holdings PLC) listed in London. Lenhoff was arrested in January 2019 after long investigations by various EU law enforcement agencies. He was charged with operating a criminal organization, investment fraud, and big-style money laundering. He was found dead in his prison cell on July 6, 2020. The cause of death is not yet clear. One of his partners was the Dutch real estate investor Dirk-Jan Bakker. Siem Eikelboom of the financial magazine Follow The Money (FTM) has brought an extensive portrait of Lenhoff’s partner and investor.
The Amsterdam Interviews
FinTelegram interviewed Dirk-Jan “DJ” Bakker in his Amsterdam office on July 15, 2019, already. In the presence of his lawyer, DJ claimed that he was a victim of his then-arrested partner Uwe Lenhoff and by no means his accomplice.
DJ has now repeated this to FTM in an interview given on 10 Aug 2020. Otherwise, FTM’s research has confirmed the essential claims of FinTelegram. Bakker was an investor in Lenhoff’s company and evidently was close to him business-wise and personally. Lenhoff and Bakker had met in 2014 while on vacation in the Austrian Alps which is a sort of second home to both of them. Lenhoff loved to stay an expensive 5-star luxury hotel where he also stayed at the time of his arrest in January 2019.
Let’s do IPO
Even before the IPO of Veltyco Group PLC (formerly known as Velox3 PLC) in the summer of 2016, Bakker acquired 40% of the Lenhoff company for allegedly €1.8 million and supported the company in its IPO. According to the FTM report, it was clear to Bakker that Lenhoff, and later Veltyco, was heavily involved in binary options. The Option888 platform from Lenhoff and Veltyco was one of the worst binary options scams at that time and was operated by Bakker and Lenhoff’s company.
The Option888 scam is one of the counts of the planned indictment in Germany. By the way, the trial will continue in Germany even after the mysterious death of Lenhoff. The indictment against members of the Lenhoff organization is planned to be filed before the end of 2020.
Million for Instanbul Villa
Apparently, Bakker was a very supportive investor to Lenhoff. Not only in business matters. In March 2015, he granted a loan of €1 million to Lenhoff for the purchase of a villa in Istanbul. The villa is to have a fantastic view of the Bosporus. For the most part, Bakker does not want to have the loan returned. Bakker transferred the million euros to the Lenhoff from his holding company Diman BV.
For vacations and business trips, Bakker Lenhoff has already arranged a private jet or made his private yacht available. In one of his interrogations with the Austrian police, Lenhoff alleges that 2016 he flew in a private jet from Bakker from Malta to Kosovo to visit a boiler room party. Then the lear jet continued to Sofia where Lenhoff had his secret headquarters and holding company – Winslet Enterprises EOOD.
Nonsense, I don’t have a plane at all. I know the owner of Aerodynamics well, I have been a customer for years. I once made an empty jet available to Lenhoff. I don’t know anything about that party. ‘
Dirk-Jan Bakker in the FTM interview (link)
Lenhoff is said to have taken it not so exactly with his manners. Bakker said that his yacht would have been in a disastrous condition after Lenhoff returned it. The cleaning costs were considerable.
The Amsterdam connection
Via the Bulgarian Winslet Enterprises also funds were transferred to Bakkers Diman BV as the forensic analysis of bank transactions of the authorities show.
Bakker has opened Amsterdam-Connections for Lenhoff. He introduced him to Payvision co-founder and CEO Rudolf Booker, among others. Through Payvision, Lenhoff and his partners have subsequently laundered tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars from their scams.
Lenhoff has acquired scammers and other cybercrime organizations as clients for Payvision. Among them was Gal Barak, the former partner accused in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials. Amsterdam turned into one of the hotspots of the international scammer scene and money-laundering.
The missing Amsterdam appartments
Bakker is said to own about 700 properties in Amsterdam. Lenhoff has always told partners that he and his partner would own 1,400 apartments in Amsterdam. Bakker denies this and says that this would not be financially feasible in the first place. Well, we see it differently. According to Lenhoff, he has moved around €2 billion annually with his illegal businesses. We think it is quite possible that he has bought into real estate companies in Amsterdam.
The FTM report shows very clearly that Lenhoff was not the lonesome perpetrator, but could only set up his business with the help of potent partners and their network. Even without Lenhoff, the Lenhoff story will remain exciting in the coming court sessions across the different jurisdictions. Many defrauded investors are still searching for their stolen money.
