New season investigates Jan Marsalek, former COO of Wirecard
The Financial Times and Pushkin Industries have launched Hot Money: Agent of Chaos, season three of their investigative podcast series. The new season uncovers how Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of Wirecard, was revealed to be a Russian spy, offering a rare look into the workings of Russian power and espionage.
Marsalek, now a fugitive, was a central figure in the Wirecard scandal - the German payments giant that collapsed into insolvency in 2020 after the FT uncovered extensive fraud. Hosted by FT European security correspondent Sam Jones, Hot Money follows his journey into the shadowy world Marsalek occupied.
The investigation leads Jones to Marsalek’s native Austria, where he aims to uncover the truth about the fugitive and what his secret life reveals about the powerful forces he serves. Over the course of eight episodes, Jones meets key figures from Marsalek’s world, gradually revealing a startling picture of how the executive became entangled with Russian operatives.
Hot Money features interviews with a UN official turned government consultant, a former Russian intelligence officer, Austria’s longest-serving spymaster, and others with firsthand knowledge of the global intelligence underworld. Jones also speaks with those who thought they knew the real Marsalek, including former colleagues, classmates and teachers.
“Spy stories are pretty rare to report on,” said Jones. “Agent of Chaos has all the glamour and intrigue of James Bond – Monte Carlo, Moscow, dangerous liaisons and war zones. But it also carries the quiet menace of John le Carré – weathered British seaside towns, the slow poison of betrayal and layers of deception. Perhaps the wildest thing of all is that Marsalek’s story is not a work of fiction, it's a real-life thriller.”
The FT was at the forefront of the Wirecard story from the start, ultimately uncovering one of the biggest corporate frauds in European history. Beginning in 2015, FT investigative reporter Dan McCrum published a groundbreaking series of reports revealing serious irregularities in the company’s finances—ranging from inflated revenues to suspicious third-party transactions.
Despite lawsuits, surveillance, and intense pressure from German regulators, the FT persisted. Drawing on leaked documents and whistleblower testimony, its reporting culminated in June 2020, when Wirecard collapsed into insolvency, exposing nearly €2 billion in fraud.
The first two episodes are out now, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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For more information, please contact pressoffice@ft.com
About the Financial Times
The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. The FT has a record paying readership of 1.5mn, while the wider FT Group has a global paying audience of 3mn across its portfolio of journalism, products and services.
About Pushkin Industries
Pushkin Industries is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners, encourages their curiosity, and inspires joy. Or, in other words: Good, Smart, Fun. Founded in 2018, Pushkin has produced numerous podcasts that have broken into the top 10 on the Apple Podcasts chart, including Malcolm Gladwell’s hugely successful Revisionist History, as well as Against the Rules from Michael Lewis, Paul McCartney’s A Life in Lyrics, The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos, Broken Record, Tim Harford’s Cautionary Tales, The Last Archive, Deep Cover, Lost Hills and Apple’s Best Show of 2021, A Slight Change of Plans. Pushkin’s audiobook catalog includes Steve Martin’s So Many Steves, Inside Voice by Lake Bell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen, Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis, Fauci and Higher Animals by Michael Specter, Heartbreak by Florence Williams, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon, The Bomber Mafia, and Talking to Strangers. Follow us @pushkinpods.