FinTelegram has reported several times between 2018 and 2019 about illegally operating German payment processors that supported binary options and broker scams. Among these illegal German payment processors were P2P GmbH and B2G GmbH. EFRI filed money laundering charges against the two companies; German prosecutors subsequently filed charges and seized €2.5 million of P2P bank accounts in 2019 but, to date, failed to make restitution payments to victims. On the contrary, the millions will remain with the German state for a long time as no clear ádministrative way has yet been figured out for the refunds: a scandal but this time on the side of the German prosecutors and courts.
The EFRI Complaint
In March 2021, the European Fund Recovery Initiative (EFRI) filed a complaint with the Cologne public prosecutor for money laundering. EFRI represents victims who made deposits to various scams via P2P GmbH and thus lost more than €360,000. The prosecutors in Cologne launched investigations, which resulted in the charges and in the freezing of some €2.5 million. However, for years the German authorities fail even to launch a process to pay this money back to the victims.
It is a scandal that shows the inability of the European authorities again to treat scam victims fairly and to quickly refund money to victims as requested by the European Victim Protection Directive and morally abhorrent. We experience the same all over Europe.
Elfriede Sixt, EFRI principal
In April 2018, EFRI sent an open letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urging her to launch an infringement procedure against Germany, Austria, and other countries that act in disregard of the EU directive 2012/29/EU, establishing minimum standards on the rights, support, and protection of victims of crime (read the open letter here).
The Corrupt Governments?
In our respective communication with Oleg Shvartsman, one of the indicted beneficial owners of B2G GmbH, he remarked, “So this is the answer of who is the most fraudulent structures in a world. Governments.“
After years of investigation, the public prosecutor’s office in Cologne brought charges against the B2G principals Rainer Treuer and Oleg Shvartsman (pictured left) in 2019. They facilitated huge binary options scams such as Blue Trading or XTraderFX.
In our conversations with him, Oleg Shvartsman has explicitly admitted that B2G processed deposits from victims of various binary options scams. However, he did not understand why this should be a problem. After all, he would only have provided a service.
Incapable Authorities and Courts
Well, Governments may be corrupt. We all know that. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that European authorities and courts are largely incapable of taking action against cybercrime and effectively protecting their citizens from online fraud. In the event of an indictment or conviction due to the support of organizations such as FinTelegram or EFRI, prosecutors and judges delay proceedings, deny victims fundamental rights, and withhold frozen funds for years. Unfortunately, this incompetence is systematic.
