Update: we have been informed that Ben Gettemans was not only the personal driver of Gal Barak but also a money mule of E&G Bulgaria. He transported the stolen money in suitcases by car between the offices of the cybercrime organization in Belgrade and Sofia. So the driver was not only a driver.
From 2017 to 2019 Ben Gettemans has been working as a driver for the disgraced Israeli cybercrime principal Gal Barak, the Wolf of Sofia, who was arrested in January 2019. In Sept 2020 Barak received a 4-years prison-time sentence for investment fraud and money laundering. Barak’s arrest in Bulgarian was made pursuant to an international law enforcement action and an EU arrest warrant. Barak tried to flee from Bulgaria to Serbia at the last moment but was arrested at the border. His former driver tells the story.
Key Case Data
| Case file name | E&G Bulgaria |
| Cybercrime activities | Online trading scams Boiler room operation Investment fraud Money laundering |
| Ring leaders | Gery Shalon (guilty in U.S. cybercrime case) Gal Barak a/k/a Wolf of Sofia (sentenced to 4 years in Austria) Marina Barak (acquitted in Austria) Vladislav Smirnov (suspect) Jacki Fitelzon (sentences to 82-months prison time) Kfir Levy (pre-trial arrest) Itzik Gellet (suspect) Amit Hulin (suspect) Chen Ganon (suspect) Maor Sioni (suspect) |
| Related cases | Veltyco & Uwe Lenhoff (separately indicted in Germany) Tradologic (separately indicted in Austria) |
The Driver’s Testimony
Ben Gettemans (LinkedIn), pictured left, was the personal driver of Gal Barak and accompanied him on personal and professional trips. Barak frequently traveled to Belgrade, Serbia, because his cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria operated boiler rooms and the payment processors Global Payment Solutions in the city called the Manhatten of the Balkans.
On 28 Jan, 2019, another 5-hours trip to Belgrade was scheduled. At that time, Gal Barak did not know that shortly before, his partner Uwe Lenhoff had been arrested and an EU arrest warrant had been issued against him. Barak paid large bribes to Bulgarian authorities and felt safe from international law enforcement agencies. This turned out to be a misjudgement.
Gal Barak, his wife Marina Barak (previously known as Marina Andreeva) and their bodyguards planned to start off early in the morning with two cars. One for the Barak’s and one with the bodyguards. Barak had made many enemies and was always surrounded by armed bodyguards. According to Ben, the left Sofia between around 9am. About 20 km outside Sofia, Gal Barak received a phone call. He was informed that the police were raiding the offices of E&G Bulgaria. The shocked Barak immediately called his lawyer, Todor Batkov and asked him to check the situation directly.
Barak asked Ben to stop somewhere on the road to Kolotina. He had to think about the course of action because of the law enforcement actions. After a while, Todor Batkov called Barak and advised him not to come back to Sofia. Therefore, Barak decided to continue his trip to Belgrade and to avoid the arrest. Conveniently, Serbia is not an EU member state and the EU arrest warrant would not bother him in Belgrade.
Marina Barak took the second car with the bodyguards and drove back to Sofia. Ben Gettemans and Barak and continued to Belgrade. Unfortunately, thing did not quite worked out as planned. At the border, the police arrested Barak. Ben Gettemans returned to Sofia, alone.
In September 2020, Gal Barak was sentenced in Vienna to four years in prison for investment fraud and money laundering. In addition, he was ordered to make restitution payments in the amount of almost €4 million. In January, Barak’s lieutenant Jacki Fitelzon was sentenced to 82 months in prison. Another lieutenant, Kfir Levy, was arrested in the Philippines in October 2021 and is awaiting trial. More indictments, arrests, and convictions in various EU jurisdictions will follow against the ringleaders of E&G Bulgaria. Gal Barak and Marina Barak are to be charged again in Germany.
