Former intelligence official Egisto Ott has been found guilty of spying for Russia, in what has been dubbed Austria's biggest spy trial in years.
A jury in Vienna found Ott, 63, guilty of having handed over information to Russian intelligence officers and to Jan Marsalek, the fugitive executive of collapsed German payments firm Wirecard.
Ott, who denies the charges, was sentenced to four years and one month in prison. His lawyer has appealed against the verdict.
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The court heard how he had supported "a secret intelligence service of the Russian Federation to the detriment of the Republic of Austria" by collecting secret facts and a large amount of personal data from police databases from 2015 to 2020.
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Marsalek, who is also an Austrian citizen, is wanted by German police for alleged fraud and is currently believed to be in the Russian capital, Moscow, having fled via Austria in 2020.
Alleged to be a Russian intelligence asset, Marsalek is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and, as such, could be arrested if found in the territory of any of the countries belonging to the 196-member international police organisation.
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The case has shed light on more of the alleged activities of Marselek, who has since been charged with fraud and embezzlement, suspected of having inflated Wirecard's balance sheet total and sales volume.
Marsalek is also believed to have been the controller of a group of Bulgarians who were convicted in London in 2025 of spying for Russia.
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