Bus blast suspect’s stock-market ploy
DORTMUND, Germany — A German-Russian man admitted on Monday to carrying out a bomb attack on Borussia Dortmund’s team bus in an elaborate bid to make a fortune on the stock market.
“I deeply regret my actions,” said the man, identified only as Sergei W. in keeping with German convention in court cases to protect the identity of defendants.
In a statement handed to the court in the western German city, he insisted he did not aim to kill or hurt anyone.
The triple blast last April 11 shattered the bus’ windows and left Spanish international Marc Bartra, 26, with a broken wrist, while a police officer suffered inner ear damage.
Prosecutors say the three fragmentation bombs each contained up to a kilogram of a hydrogen peroxide mixture and around 65 cigarette-sized metal bolts, one of which ended up lodged in Bartra’s headrest.
After initial fears of a jihadist attack were dismissed, W. was arrested 10 days later.
Police charged the 28-yearold electrical technician with 28 counts of attempted murder as well as setting off explosions and causing serious bodily harm.
He had allegedly remotely set off the three explosive devices hidden in a hedge as the bus was leaving the team hotel for a Champions League match.
Prosecutors charge that W. had sought to profit from an anticipated plunge in the club’s stock market value by cashing in on so-called put options, essentially bets on a falling share price.
He was staying in the same Dortmund hotel as the players, had a view of where the bombs were detonated and had bought the put options on the team’s shares on the day of the attack, prosecutors said.
W. reportedly drew attention at the hotel, first by insisting on a window room facing the front and then, in the chaos after the blasts, by calmly walking into its restaurant to order a steak.
Dortmund, also known as BVB, is the only soccer club in Germany that is listed on the stock exchange.
If its share price had indeed plunged, W. could have realized as much as a $600,000 profit, according to prosecutors.
Instead, W. allegedly sold the options days after the attack, making just $7,000.