Swedish guardian of refugee child stole thousands of kronor from him
A Swedish woman in her 60s has been found guilty of stealing thousands of kronor from a refugee minor for whom she was appointed as legal guardian, in order to fund a gambling addiction.
A court in Umeå in the north of Sweden found the woman guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust, court documents seen by The Local show.
The court documents note that the 67-year-old woman "had had a gambling problem for several years, which she had lost control of", and that the stolen money was used to fund this habit.
In total, the woman transferred almost 100,000 kronor ($11,900) from the bank account of the boy, who received the money from a summer job, study grants, and social services. Some of the payments were made directly to her own bank accounts, others were made to a fintech company which handles payments for several gaming websites.
Between June 2014 and October 2015, the woman had acted as a trustee for the child who was living in Nordmaling on Sweden's northeastern coast, before being appointed his legal guardian. She held the latter role until August 2016, when the boy's family came from Somalia to join him.
She admitted making 29 transfers from the boy's account, but also claimed to have paid back more than half of the money to the boy.
The court ordered the woman to pay the boy 45,255 kronor in damages, as well as legal costs and a compulsory contribution to the Swedish Fund for Victims of Crime.
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A court in Umeå in the north of Sweden found the woman guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust, court documents seen by The Local show.
The court documents note that the 67-year-old woman "had had a gambling problem for several years, which she had lost control of", and that the stolen money was used to fund this habit.
In total, the woman transferred almost 100,000 kronor ($11,900) from the bank account of the boy, who received the money from a summer job, study grants, and social services. Some of the payments were made directly to her own bank accounts, others were made to a fintech company which handles payments for several gaming websites.
Between June 2014 and October 2015, the woman had acted as a trustee for the child who was living in Nordmaling on Sweden's northeastern coast, before being appointed his legal guardian. She held the latter role until August 2016, when the boy's family came from Somalia to join him.
She admitted making 29 transfers from the boy's account, but also claimed to have paid back more than half of the money to the boy.
The court ordered the woman to pay the boy 45,255 kronor in damages, as well as legal costs and a compulsory contribution to the Swedish Fund for Victims of Crime.
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