The billions in losses for retail investors in illegal online broker schemes would not have been possible without the involvement of payment service providers (PSP). Beside boiler rooms, PSPs are the most important element of these fraud schemes and scams. According to the guiding principle “Follow the money”, FinTelegram has placed a special focus of its research activities on these PSPs in the very interest of investor protection. In the environment of the illegal broker schemes of E&G Bulgaria, we have recently discovered two more PSPs and interesting connections with the Bulgarian Transact Europe EAD and the German Germanika GmbH.
The Transact Europe EAD
Transact Europe EAD, registered in Bulgaria, has, according to the documents available to us, processed millions of funds from investors of illegal broker schemes of E&G Bulgaria and Gal Barak and other operators. These funds were laundered and passed on to the scheme operators. Many of these broker platforms and their respective operating entities have long been the subject of warnings from financial market supervisory authorities, which should have noticed in any proper AML/KYC procedure.
Transact Europe EAD is a subsidiary of Transact Europe Holding which is also registered in Bulgaria. The shareholders of Transact Europe Holding include the German citizen Falk-Uwe
Transact Europe Holdings is thus to be positioned as a US-German vehicle operating from Sofia, Bulgaria (EU).
Through the person of Falk-Uwe Preussner and Transact Europe, we can establish another direct relationship between the Veltyco Group, Uwe Lenhoff and Gal Barak. In our understanding, Transact Europe is thus to be qualified as a possible co-conspirator to the fraud of the illegal broker schemes of Uwe Lenhoff, Gal Barak and their respective networks of companies and trading styles.
The Germanika GmbH
In June 2018, the German financial regulator BaFin requested Germanika GmbH, headquartered in Cologne, to discontinue the financial transfer/acquisition business operated by BaFin. Without authorization, Germanika GmbH offered “international money transfer solutions” and forwarded investor funds to the operators of the broker schemes. Germanika GmbH has provided the aforementioned payment services without the required BaFin permission and, moreover, acted in the field of illegal brokers. For example, Germanika GmbH collected customer funds from the illegal platforms of E&G Bulgaria by Gal Barak and Marina Andreeva. Like many other illegal payment service providers in Germany, Germanika GmbH has thus made a contribution to investor fraud.
The managing director of Germanika GmbH is
Beside E&G Bulgaria, the illegal payment transaction services were provided, among other things, for the broker sites www.forexgrand.com, which were also operated illegally. This ForexGrand is operated by the Bulgarian Nordic Pearl Ltd which in turn belongs to a Grand Services Ltd on the Marshall Islands. Thus the company and payment traffic construction follows the well-known pattern of E&G Bulgaria. In addition to Germanika GmbH, ForexGrand also used Montenegrin Las Processing as an illegal payment processor for bank transfers.
Report Brokers And Payment Services Providers
FinTelegram will continue its research into the illegal brokerage scene and its payment service providers. We are always thankful for hints and information. Please let us know via our whistleblower system:
