Wirecard fugitive Marsalek claimed he helped topple Austrian Chancellor Kurz, documents show

Jan Marsalek, the fugitive former Wirecard executive sought by multiple European countries on fraud and espionage suspicions, claimed in messages to a Russian spy-ring leader that he had been involved in an operation that "successfully toppled" Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, according to investigation files examined by the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, of which Politico is a member.

The messages were sent on 22 October 2021 by a man Austrian authorities have identified as Marsalek, using the alias "Rupert Ticz," to Orlin Roussev, a Bulgarian spy-ring leader subsequently jailed in Britain for ten years and eight months for espionage. Roussev received operational instructions from Marsalek and led a network that organised surveillance of Kremlin opponents and investigative journalists, discussed kidnapping, and ran disinformation campaigns.

In the messages, Marsalek referred to a "guy" who "was actually working for us for a while" and described how "we've successfully toppled" the former chancellor "by confiscating the mobile phone" of a close associate managing what Marsalek called his "secret campaign financing." He then shared a link to coverage of corruption allegations against Kurz and the seizure of a phone belonging to Thomas Schmid, a former senior official in Austria's Finance Ministry. Schmid's phone had been seized in November 2019; communications recovered from it became central evidence in multiple corruption investigations.

Two weeks after Kurz announced his resignation under investigative pressure in October 2021, Marsalek wrote to Roussev that it was "quite a messy story," adding: "And the rest of the chats 'killed' the chancellor."

An Austrian police assessment of the messages notes that "Marsalek stated unequivocally that 'they' had 'toppled' the chancellor in a successful operation" and interpreted the exchange as Marsalek claiming involvement in the seizure of the phone. The documents carry no independent evidence that Marsalek organised the seizure, and investigators noted it remained unclear whether his reference to "us" meant Wirecard or a Russian intelligence service.

British prosecutors have said that at the time of the messages Marsalek was living in Moscow and working primarily for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). Marsalek has been on the run since June 2020, when his company Wirecard collapsed with a €1.9 billion hole in its accounts. He is wanted for fraud and is under investigation for espionage in several European countries including Austria.

Austrian investigators are currently examining whether domestic intelligence personnel provided information to Marsalek for onward transmission to Russia. Kurz declined to comment.