Messages in an ongoing investigation
The Telegraph reported on November 7, 2026, that Marsalek made the claim in texts to Orlin Roussev, described as his suspected Russian handler. Marsalek was living in Moscow when he sent the messages.
The exchanges appear in Austrian police files examining "support for a foreign intelligence service – interference in Austrian politics", the newspaper reported. Those files also identify possible election-related offenses, breaches of official duties and corruption. They state that "the investigation into this matter is still ongoing".
The limits of the evidence are significant. According to The Telegraph, the documents do not independently establish that Marsalek organized the seizure of Thomas Schmid's phone. Investigators also could not determine whether his reference to "the guy" who had worked "for us" meant someone working for Wirecard or for a Russian intelligence service.
The phone evidence and Kurz's resignation
Austrian investigators took Schmid's mobile phone on November 12, 2019. They extracted a large volume of communications, recovering previously deleted messages as well. Material from the device subsequently served as evidence in several corruption investigations.
On October 6, 2021, prosecutors searched Austria's federal chancellery, finance ministry and the headquarters of Kurz's ÖVP party. They were investigating allegations that public money had paid for polls and coverage favorable to the party. Under the resulting pressure, Kurz announced on October 9 that he would step down as chancellor.
Ed Arnold, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, cautioned that Marsalek may be "overplaying his hand" in describing his part in Kurz's downfall. Arnold also described Austria as a longtime "hot bed of spying" that Russia probably regarded as a "soft target".
Marsalek, Roussev and the Russian intelligence links
Marsalek has been a fugitive since June 2020, when Wirecard collapsed with a £1.6 billion shortfall in its accounts. British prosecutors say that, at the time of the texts, his work in Moscow was primarily for Vladimir Putin's Federal Security Service, the FSB.
Authorities have described Roussev as the head of an espionage network who received orders directly from Marsalek. Roussev was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison.
The Telegraph also reported extensive investigations into Marsalek's connections with the BVT, Austria's former domestic intelligence service. Several senior intelligence and police officers face accusations that they supplied him with information for the Russian state's use.
Robert Clark of the Washington-based Yorktown Institute said Vienna's Russian diplomatic presence, numbering more than 500 personnel, was among Europe's largest. He described many of those personnel as covert operatives for agencies including the SVR and GRU, and said Austria's constitutional neutrality provided a permissive environment for Russian espionage.
A separate case involving officials' phones
In May 2025, The Telegraph reported that three phones belonging to senior Austrian interior ministry officials had reached Russia. Damaged during a canoeing accident in 2017, the devices had been given to a forensic officer to recover their data.
Roussev arranged for those phones to be collected in Vienna in 2022 and sent to Russia through Istanbul. They were not Schmid's phone, and no link between the two incidents has been established.
