Michael Gastauer and Black Banx – The fictional story about a would-be Mogul and FinTech Guru

tamir
Thu, 16 Jan 2020 11:57:18 +0000
Black Banx, Court Cases, Cybercrime, Michael Gastauer, Ruja Ignatova, WB21

The German investor, philanthropist and FinTech entrepreneur Michael Gastauer is certainly not a humble person. On the contrary! He is a man of superlatives in every respect. As was the famous (fictitious) Baron Münchhausen also known as the German "Baron of lies". We are not claiming now that Gastauer would definitely be a "lie baron" but there are indications that could lead to this conclusion. Here his story.

The German investor, philanthropist, and FinTech entrepreneur Michael Gastauer is certainly not a humble person. He and his WB21 (now doing business as Black Banx) have actually been involved in several big court cases. The facilitated the crypto scam OneCoin and the collapsed Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX. Nothing about Michael Gastauer and his Black Banx success story seems to meet the facts. It’s all just fairy dust!

FinTelegram has reported and quoted from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s complaint against Roger Knox and Michael Gastauer in connection with the $165 million securities fraud.

FinTelegram has reported on and quoted from the report of the QuadrigaCX monitor ordered by the competent Canadian court.

FinTelegram has reported on the report of the German lawyer in connection with victims of the OneCoin crypto-scam and the involvement of Michael Gastauer’s WB21 group (now Black Banx). Black Banx denies the authenticity of the reports. Below are quotes and links to the publicly available documents.

Gastauer and the WB21 Group

1. US Securities and Exchange Commission sues Roger Knox, Michael Gastauer, and WB21 (now Black Banx) Public source: SEC Press Release

According to the SEC, WB21 Group was not a registered bank, and Gastauer’s ‘solution’ was actually a circumvention of banking regulations designed to disguise his clients’ … identities. In account opening forms, Gastauer made false statements to banks, describing WB21 US Inc. as a software company that had Apple and Google as “major suppliers.

[…] the primary source of funds in the WB21 US Inc. bank accounts were deposits from Wintercap SA’s bank accounts in Latvia and Mauritius. Indeed, Gastauer enabled Knox to move millions of dollars throughGastauer’s U.S. bank accounts under the false pretense that the money was generated throughWB21 US Inc.’s purported venture capital business.

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Roger Knox et al., No. 18-cv-12058, Section 92 and following

2. Founder of Swiss Brokerage Firm Pleads Guilty in Connection with Global Securities Fraud Scheme Public Source: U.S. Department of Justice Press Release

Roger Knox, 49, the founder and operator of a Swiss asset management firm pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to charges that he engaged with others in a massive global securities fraud scheme that netted proceeds of approximately $164 million.

3. WB21 and Black Banx involvement in QuadrigaCX as a payment processor Public Source: Court-appointed Monitor Court Application

On April 16, 2019, the Monitor received a copy of the letter from Black BanX Inc. (“Black BanX”) that was sent to the Court. The letter asserted that Black BanX had no relationship with Quadriga which solely dealt with WB21 Pte Ltd. (“WB21 Pte”), a Singaporean entity. The letter also suggests that Blank BanX started operations on January 1, 2019.
The information outlined in the letter is inconsistent with the information obtained by the Monitor, and included in the Fourth Report, which notes that WB21 Inc., the predecessor name to Blank BanX Inc. and for which Mr. Gastauer is sole director, was incorporated on January 2, 2018 and changed its name to Black BanX Inc. on January 16, 2019. It also appeared to the Monitor that Black BanX, WB21 Pte, and other affiliated entities operated as a single organization accepting deposits from customers in various jurisdictions

4. WB21 (now Black Banx) involvement in OneCoin crypto scam as a payment processor Public Source: German lawyer Jens Reime publishes findings on WB21 involvement in OneCoin scam, translated by FinTelegram

Clients of the Reime law firm have also invested their money for this purpose in various ways, for example through the payment service provider IMS International Marketing Services GmbH (account at Commerzbank) or through the financial service provider WB21 GmbH based in Berlin (account at Postbank) or WB21PTE. LTD, based in Singapore (account with Perlo Paslaugos, Vilnius Lithuania with BIC PEPGLT21XXX)

Criminal Complaint against Black Banx

FinTelegram has filed criminal complaints against Black Banx and Michael Gastauer with the relevant authorities in the UK and Germany. Black Banx and Michael Gastauer have defamed FinTelegram and its publisher. Moreover, they have blackmailed FinTelegram to delete correct articles and/or to publish false information.