Leading Global Financial Broker Adds Defendants, Charges to Money Laundering Case
NEW YORK, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Whistleblower Victor Carlström, a leading global financial broker, recently filed an 88-page amended complaint in his $4.2 billion lawsuit that alleges myriad illegal activities of leading Swedish firms Folksam and Swedbank, their executives, and two Swedish government agencies - equivalent to the IRS and SEC in the United States - to execute a complex money laundering scheme. The complaint now includes charges against Swedish banking giant Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB). Swedish conglomerate Areim has been added to the amended complaint (but not named as a defendant) for their key roles in the scheme and threats from Turkey against Mr. Carlström's life. Vinacossa Enterprises is an investment company founded by Mr. Carlström in 2013.
Both Swedbank and SEB are already under investigation by U.S. authorities and other nations. Mr. Carlström's $4.2 billion RICO lawsuit seeks to further expose a deeply corrupt Swedish financial system.
"Something is rotten in the State of Sweden," said Lawrence Schoenbach, attorney for Mr. Carlström. "Major financial and insurance institutions are working in concert with government agencies to silence Victor Carlström through threats, intimidation, and financial ruin."
According to the complaint, SEB was an active participant in money laundering operations by the Swedish financial executives and organizations and violated several banking and privacy laws in the process. Areim accounts in SEB, nominally owned by a Swedish citizen not mentioned in the suit, are actually owned by a former Turkish prime minister and close political associate of Turkey's President Recap Erdogan. Attacks on Mr. Carlström from Turkey began almost immediately after reporting illegal financial activity by Areim and forced him to seek asylum in the United States
Mr. Carlström is a Swedish citizen and former fund manager whose company worked under a contract with Folksam beginning in 2013. Carlström's company quickly became the largest source of client investment funds for Folksam by providing a successful investment product with the government-owned bank SBAB. Mr. Carlström became the largest cash supplier month-after-month in 2014, securing significant money and new clients for SBAB and Folksam. When Mr. Carlström's new clients started to ask questions of Folksam, Folksam responded by directing Mr. Carlström to decrease his number of clients. Suspicious of Folksam's reaction, Mr. Carlström started his own investigation into Folksam's operations.
Mr. Carlström's investigation revealed systematic and widespread bribery and money laundering. After Mr. Carlström voiced his concerns to Folksam about the company's operations, Folksam abruptly severed the relationship.
Among the defendants are Swedbank executives - CEO Jens Henriksson, the former Folksam CEO; the Director General of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority Erik Thedéen; and Director General of the Swedish Tax Agency Katrin Westling Palm.
Since discovering widespread corruption, money laundering, bribery and other crimes in the Swedish financial system and government, Mr. Carlström has been subject to numerous death threats, mostly deriving from Turkey, and multiple assassination attempts, the lawsuit explains.
This timeline dates back to 2006 and further showcases the timing of events leading to Mr. Carlström's original lawsuit filed on December 17, 2019.
Mr. Carlström is represented by the Law Offices of Lawrence H. Schoenbach, a boutique New York law firm with affiliate offices in Zurich, Paris, the U.S. Virgin Islands and China. The firm represents individual and corporate clients in complex, high-risk legal matters, primarily in U.S. federal courts throughout the nation and internationally.
Also representing Mr. Carlström is Dratel & Lewis, P.C., a nationally recognized, full-service law firm. Established in 1996, the firm has built a reputation for excellence in federal and New York State cases, including trial and appellate representation in criminal defense and civil litigation.
