Weekender: The Elusive Jan Marsalek

Hello and welcome to this weekend’s edition of Brazen Weekender. This time, we’re kicking things off with a story that’s been stuck in my head for years — the case of Jan Marsalek, the vanished Wirecard executive whose life reads like a spy thriller written in code (and subject of a new podcast).

After that, we’ve got a fresh bundle of things worth your weekend — including geoengineers trying to refreeze the Arctic and to Netflix’s latest deep-sea gut punch.

And a reminder, Weekender is now for our paid subscribers. Join now and support our live investigations, "Expeditions," like the Unauthorized Rich List and much more coming soon.

-- Bradley Hope

Why one of the world’s most wanted men may also be its most fascinating

If I had to pick the most captivating rogue figure of the 21st century so far, there’s no question who’s on the shortlist: Jho Low, of course — our old friend and the phantom puppeteer of the 1MDB heist. But right there beside him, lurking in the shadows of Vienna, Moscow and possibly Tripoli, is Jan Marsalek.

If you’ve never heard his name, that’s not surprising — he’s spent the last five years doing his best to disappear. But the story is unreal. Marsalek was the COO of Wirecard, the German fintech darling that vaporized in 2020 when investigators discovered a €1.9 billion black hole in its books. And just as the scandal exploded, Marsalek vanished.

But he didn’t just go underground. He went full James Bond villain.