A significant $4.2 billion lawsuit by the Swedish financial broker Victor Carlstrom that alleges a $150 billion money laundering scheme has been expanded to include a political associate of Turkish President Recep Erdogan and alleges that death threats against Mr. Carlstrom came directly from Turkey.
The Turkish government connections are the second government ensnarled in the RICO lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York. In the suit, Mr. Carlstrom spells out a complex money laundering operation that includes Swedish government agencies and officials in addition to large financial companies of that country.
In a recent filing that expands the lawsuit, Mr. Carlstrom added Swedish banking giant Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB), as well as Swedish conglomerate Areim. Areim, the suit explains, not only participated in the money laundering activities, but played a role in threats against whistleblower Carlstrom’s life.
The amended lawsuit claims that SEB was an active participant in money laundering operations by the Swedish financial executives and organizations. In the process, several privacy and banking laws were broken in the process. An Areim account in SEB, controlled by Binali Yildrim, a former Turkish prime minister with close ties to Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan, was flagged by Mr. Carlstrom for illegal financial activity and reported to authorities.
Attacks on Mr. Carlstrom from Turkey began almost immediately after reporting the illegal activity. Mr. Carlstrom was forced to flee Sweden and ultimately seek asylum in the United States. Since being in the United States, Mr. Carlstrom has been subject to at least two attempts on his life, in both Los Angeles and New York. His wife and two children left Mr. Carlstrom to seek greater safety. He changes locations every two or three days.
Mr. Carlstrom has been investigating illegal activity by Swedish financial giants Folksam and Swedbank since 2015. He was employed by Folksam but was fired shortly after refusing orders to steal from his clients. He also suspected suspicious activity by the company and reported it to then-CEO Jens Henriksson. Henriksson is now CEO of Swedbank, in charge of cleaning up a separate money laundering scandal there.
In executing his due diligence, Mr. Carlstrom discovered a wide-spread, complex scheme to launder more than $150 billion that included Swedbank, Folksam, the Director General of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority Erik Thedéen and the Director General of the Swedish Tax Agency, Katrin Westling Palm. Thedéen’s and Westling Palm’s agencies are also named in the lawsuit.
Swedish-based Areim AB provides real estate services and focuses on management of retail properties such as office buildings, as well as renders asset management and property development services.
SEB is a Swedish financial group for corporate customers, institutions and private individuals with headquarters in Stockholm. Its activities comprise mainly banking services, but SEB also carries out significant life insurance operations and also owns Eurocard. The bank was founded and is controlled by the Swedish Wallenberg family through their investment company Investor AB.
Mr. Carlstrom is represented by Mr. Schoenbach, whose law firm represents individual and corporate clients in complex, high-risk legal matters internationally and by Joshua Dratel, whose firm specializes in federal and New York state cases, including trial and appellate representation in criminal defense and civil litigation.
Mr. Carlstrom is a one of the top Financial Brokers in Sweden, with 14 years of experience in the international capital markets within the financial industry. Carlstrom has 7 financial licenses to work in all areas in the financial sector in Europe.
