In the spring of 2021, Gal Barak was released on parole and moved to Israel with his wife. He did not destitute the Austrian victims as ordered by the Austrian court. Instead, in 2022, he founded the Vantage Fund in Israel, which aims to finance convicted cybercriminals and their startups. Apparently, the Vantage fund is financed with money from victims. Barak is thus publicly giving the finger to the European judiciary and his European victims.
According to the Vantage website (www.vantagefund.io), it “invests as a partner in startups and companies in the high-tech, cyber, and fintech sectors, led by young men and women convicted of cyber- and crypto crimes.” Vantage would provide a business and rehabilitative framework of mutual trust between people who can utilize their talent and intelligence for good causes after paying their debt to society.
As a principal of E&G Bulgaria, Gal Barak and his Bulgarian wife Marina Barak (formerly Marina Andreeva) operated several vast fraudulent binary options and CFD scams such as XTraderFX, ZoomTrader, SafeMarkets or Golden Markets, defrauding tens of thousands of clients of around $200 million.
Some of Barak’s accomplices, like Jacki Fitelzon, have also been sentenced to several years in prison; others are waiting for their trials. However, Marina Barak was acquitted, but prosecutors have appealed, and thus the acquittal is not yet final.