THE RABBI-CONNECTION OF THE WOLF OF SOFIA

The Rabbi-Connection in Sofia

The featured image with Gal BARAK (left) in company of the Rabbi of Sofia, Yosef SALAMON, and the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko BORISOV was published on Rabby SALAMON’s Facebook page on March 30, 2018. And there is a story behind the picture worth to tell. Gal BARAK, the Wolf of Sofia, is one of the key players of the illicit global binary options industry driven by mostly Israeli actors as Simona WEINGLASS of the Times of Israel pointed out. BARAK is currently located in Sofia where he acts as mastermind and principal behind the boiler room operator E&G Bulgaria and many unlicensed and hence illegal trading platforms. One may wonder why despite the many evidences on his cybercrime activities he is still not bothered by the enforcement agencies in Bulgaria. Well, there is an obvious answer to this question: Gal BARAK spends a lot of money to bribe authorities and their officials. Moreover, he is having close connections to the Rabbi in Sofia –  Yosef SALAMON. The latter connection is of utmost importance for the protection of the Wolf of Sofia and his team.

The Money Laundering Cartel

We have been informed by Gal BARAK’s people that he involved the Rabbi into business issues around his binary options scheme in Sofia. That does sound a bit strange, doesn’ it? Rabbis and their respective community members used to play a crucial role in the international money laundering for a Colombian cocaine cartel and other illegal proceeds. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s US Rabbis and their co-conspirators – most of them were members of the Rabbis’ communities – have been convicted for money laundering for a Colombian drug cartels. Read this New York Times article (May 1993) or the Daily News article for example (April 1994). For those of you, interested in the legal details we suggest to go through the court case analysis of United States against Jose E. STROH (NO. 3:96cr139(AHN), Nov 3, 2000).

The Old Connections still work

Two of the members of the “Rabbi Money Laundering Network” back then were David VANOUNOU (aka VANOUNON) and his then 22 years old nephew Isshai David VANOUNOU. They were indicted by U.S. prosecutors but fled the country to Israel to avoid trial. Guess what? Yes, you are right. The very same connections are involved in the money laundering around the cybercrime enterprise of Gery SHALON and his friends. As we already reported on FinTelegram, Gery SHALON has been indicted in 2015 by U.S. prosecutors and charged of hacking, securities market manipulation, and the operation of an illicit payment processor. Hence, it obviously makes sense for Gal BARAK to have close connections to the Rabbi SALAMON. It has been confirmed to us in writing by people close to BARAK that the Rabbis actually has been involved in BARAK’s business. The question is: does the Rabbi know about the illicit business activities of Gal BARAK and his friend Gery SHALON? [to be continued]