Charges in Sweden's largest insider scandal
Charges were filed on Friday against six men in what is being called the largest insider trading scandal in Swedish history.
The six men are suspected of having made around 130 million kronor ($16.3 million) through illegal inside deals, according to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten – EBM).
“This is Sweden’s largest ever insider trading indictment both in terms of the number of people and the amount of money,” said EBM public prosecutor Stig Åström in a statement.
The indictment comes following a wide-ranging investigation and relies on evidence gathered from telephone wiretaps.
The prime suspects are two men referred to in the Swedish press as the Cevian-man, age 36, and the Nordea-man, age 37.
They are both charged with serious tax crimes and serious insider trading crimes.
According to prosecutors, the Cevian-man failed to declare capital gains worth 17.6 million kronor in 2005, while the Nordea-man failed to report earnings of 28.5 million kronor.
The insider trading crimes result from the fact that, according to the indictment, both men systematically used inside information when trading various financial instruments.
All told, the charges cover 23 deals, including transactions involving Norwegian Visma, Finnish Metso, Volvo, and Telia Sonera.
Time and again, Åström has been forced to ask for more time to carry out his investigation in part because of delays in receiving assistance from legal authorities in other countries.
The trial is likely to start in the summer, two and a half years from when the investigation was first made public.
According to Åström, the indictment is unique in several respects.
“It’s not only that it’s huge and comprehensive. Primarily, it’s the first time a case has been tried in which people, as far as we can tell, consciously sought out inside information and used it systematically,” he told the TT news agency.
“With previous cases in this area, it’s been board members who were informed and then perhaps traded stocks more by mistake. This is something we haven’t seen previously.”
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The six men are suspected of having made around 130 million kronor ($16.3 million) through illegal inside deals, according to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten – EBM).
“This is Sweden’s largest ever insider trading indictment both in terms of the number of people and the amount of money,” said EBM public prosecutor Stig Åström in a statement.
The indictment comes following a wide-ranging investigation and relies on evidence gathered from telephone wiretaps.
The prime suspects are two men referred to in the Swedish press as the Cevian-man, age 36, and the Nordea-man, age 37.
They are both charged with serious tax crimes and serious insider trading crimes.
According to prosecutors, the Cevian-man failed to declare capital gains worth 17.6 million kronor in 2005, while the Nordea-man failed to report earnings of 28.5 million kronor.
The insider trading crimes result from the fact that, according to the indictment, both men systematically used inside information when trading various financial instruments.
All told, the charges cover 23 deals, including transactions involving Norwegian Visma, Finnish Metso, Volvo, and Telia Sonera.
Time and again, Åström has been forced to ask for more time to carry out his investigation in part because of delays in receiving assistance from legal authorities in other countries.
The trial is likely to start in the summer, two and a half years from when the investigation was first made public.
According to Åström, the indictment is unique in several respects.
“It’s not only that it’s huge and comprehensive. Primarily, it’s the first time a case has been tried in which people, as far as we can tell, consciously sought out inside information and used it systematically,” he told the TT news agency.
“With previous cases in this area, it’s been board members who were informed and then perhaps traded stocks more by mistake. This is something we haven’t seen previously.”
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