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company that would buy the remains of Cambridge Analytica, the data-
collection firm that was mired in scandal for its role in influencing elections. When it came to Libyan matters, Marsalek seemed to get a thrill
out of telling people that he had body-cam videos of horrific battlefield violence, saying that they showed �the boys� killing prisoners. He boasted
that Petlinsky had taken him to Syria to embed with Russian soldiers, on a joyride to the ancient city of Palmyra. According to Weiss, Marsalek
�wanted to be a secret agent.� But there�s no concrete evidence that he
was.

Nevertheless, Marsalek�s position at Wirecard gave him access to materials
that might be of interest to a foreign intelligence service. In 2013, the company began issuing credit cards with false names to the German Federal Criminal Police Office, for use during undercover investigations�meaning
that Marsalek might have had insights into the agency�s operational
spending. It later emerged that the B.N.D., Germany�s foreign-intelligence service, used Wirecard credit cards, too. After Marsalek�s escape, the
B.N.D. claimed that it was unaware of his connections to Russian
intelligence.

In 2014, Marsalek led an effort at Wirecard�in partnership with private
Swiss and Lebanese banks�to issue anonymous debit cards that could be
preloaded with up to two million euros per year. In his pitch, he told Mastercard that such cards would spare ultra-high-net-worth individuals
the annoyance of being asked for stock tips, for example, when a waiter
took a credit card and learned the client�s name. But it is difficult to conceive of a more useful setup for covert operational expenses�an
anonymous asset, accepted by everyone, perfect for bribing politicians,
paying assassins, or moving large sums of cash across borders.

Jan Marsalek�s getaway jet landed in Minsk. From there, he continued to
Moscow, on a fake passport, likely with the assistance of Petlinsky,
according to the Dossier Center, an investigative outfit. Both men have
changed their names; Petlinsky�s whereabouts are unknown. The next month, Germany sent an extradition request for Marsalek to Russian law-
enforcement agencies. They replied that they had no address for Marsalek,
and no record of his having entered the country. His last known phone
activity was last year.

�He�s quite clearly hiding in one place, just because of the logistics of
how all sorts of systems work when you travel,� Jon, the private
investigator, told me. �Every time a passport is visually scanned into
another country, we can get those records here.� He speculated that
Marsalek will soon be �drained of all his money,� and recalled clients
�who have done disappearing acts,� made it to Russia, and come back a few
years later, completely broke. �Out there, you pay for your safekeeping,�
Jon said. �As soon as you don�t have money, then you�re disposable.�

Last summer, a grainy photo appeared to show Marsalek in an upscale Moscow neighborhood, wearing a red Prada jacket and climbing into an S.U.V. �It actually does look like him,� Rami El Obeidi, the former Libyan spy chief, mused on Twitter. �Except, knowing him, he never wore Prada (unless Russia
got the better side of him). He preferred Brioni, like I do.� ?

Published in the print edition of the March 6, 2023, issue, with the
headline �The Price of Belief.�

<https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/how-the-biggest-fraud-in- german-history-unravelled>

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