According to Israeli media 'Posta', Germany requested the extradition of 2 Israeli citizens. The Israeli citizens are suspected to have defrauded German investors throughout 2018 - 2020.
In 2019 German authorities began receiving hundreds of complaints from investors that lost their money through the companies that were allegedly operated by the Israeli citizens.
Investors were allegedly promised high returns for their investments. The companies' representatives fed the investors with false information, presenting false figures that show the returns that were made on their capital.
However, German authorities suspect that in reality no capital was invested. Multiple websites were operated with call centers in Bulgaria and Serbia. The alleged scam offered to invest in forex, binary options and CFDs while promising high ROI.
The estimated amount of the alleged scam that its investors were identified stand at EUR 8 million according to German authorities. The total amount of the alleged scam is expected to have exceeded EUR 20 million.
The Laundering
According to Posta the funds were suspected to have been laundered via shell companies and bank accounts. The funds were funneled through multiple bank accounts across Europe.
The millions of euros were transferred to these Ukrainian firms across Romania, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Czech Republic. German authorities claim to have received a confession from the accomplices.
A customer retention agent describe that the company had the ability to control the profits and losses of the investors, the platforms were treated like a video game.
In order to set up the shell bank accounts, ballet dancers in Prague were used in December 2018. Bank accounts and companies were set up in Czech Republic under the names of some of the ballet dancers.
One of them was arrested in Israel following the extradition as he tried leaving the country with his second passport at the end of December 2021.
