The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) revoked XTrader24‘s permission to trade cryptocurrencies on December 16, 2021. According to the regulator, there were numerous, severe violations of the Money Laundering Act. FinTelegram has reported on this. At first glance, the revocation does not look spectacular. However, the XTrader24 case becomes spectacular when you look at the Wirecard background, which occupies parliaments and the judiciary in Germany and Austria.
Key data
| Brands | XTrader24, CoinFinder, |
| Legal entity | XTrader24 GmbH (Austria), PRM GmbH (Austria), Metamorphoses GmbH (Germany) |
| Related individuals | Christoph Gsottbauer, Markus Sperr, Thomas Sperr, Otto-Philipp Braun |
| Jurisdiction | Austria |
| Related cases | Wirecard |
| Regulatory actions | FMA revoked license on 16 Dec 2021 (link) |
A politically exposed case
Such a warning from a regulatory authority should lead to public prosecutor’s office investigations. If regulatory findings uncover that a company like XTrader24 continuously and seriously violates the Money Laundering Act, it must file a criminal complaint. Consequently, law enforcement must prosecute the case under the respective Criminal Code, especially when the case is politically exposed, as is Wirecard.
PRM, XTrader24, and Wirecard
Behind XTrader24 are the two former criminal police officers, Christoph Gsottbauer, Markus Sperr, and his brother Thomas Sperr. Markus Sperr is also the beneficial owner and managing director of PRM GmbH.
Christoph Gsottbauer is also one of the top managers of PRM and represents the company in Dubai. In recent months, the PRM has become a politically exposed organization. It was become known because a key witness has testified in parliamentary investigations in Germany and Austria that PRM or Gsottbauer and Sperr spied on and allegedly intimidated critics for Wirecard. One witness even believes that RPM also spied on and intimidated employees of EY, the auditor responsible for Wirecard. See the screenshot of the protocol of the investigative committee of the German Bundestag left (link to file).
PRM is also allegedly involved in the so-called Ibiza Affair, which brought down the then Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache. Along with the government at the time. Strache is said to have been a PRM client in this case.
Oh yes, PRM and XTrader24 are at the center of a politically exposed case. Does the question arise in this context for whom XTrader24 laundered money or facilitated money-laundering? The company was hardly known. Many questions desperately need answers.
Connecting dots
PRM owners Gsottbauer and the Sperr brothers are also beneficial owners of XTrader24, which is massively involved in money laundering, according to FMA.
The question naturally arises whether XTrader24, founded in 2016, was also involved in Wirecard transactions. It is well known that Wirecard also processed a large part of its transaction volume via partners from Dubai, such as Al Alam Solutions FZ LLC. Dubai is also where Gsottbauer and PRM are based.
The investigations by the public prosecutor’s office in the Ibiza affair ultimately also brought down Chancellor Sebastian Kurz because the public prosecutor’s office sees the suspicion of corruption via the chats on the cell phones seized in the Ibiza Affaire proceedings. They plan to file charges against Kurz and his team.
Whether and how the connection between XTrader24, PRM, and Wirecard are can only be clarified by investigations of the responsible law enforcement agencies. In any case, the soup is already very thick, and it would be incomprehensible if this is not investigated.
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