Swedish authorities raided Crowd1’s company places of work someday between September by means of November final yr.
The beforehand unreported information was disclosed in a current paywalled Svenska Dagbladet’s Blenda podcast.
As reported Expressen on March twenty eighth, citing Svenska Dagbladet’s podcast;
Final autumn, the police raided the corporate’s workplace in Stockholm, reveals Svenska Dagbladet’s podcast “The IT icon and pyramid cash”.
The police seized computer systems and paperwork – and arrested three individuals linked to the corporate.
They have been launched after two days, however are suspected of significant financial cash laundering, against the law that may result in as much as six years in jail.
Chamber prosecutor Carl Asterius on the Ecocrime Authority explains within the podcast that the felony classification financial cash laundering might be related when it’s suspected that it’s “criminally obtained cash”.
And that the suspicion on this case is that it’s an unlawful pyramid scheme.
To this point I’m not conscious of any official affirmation of the Crowd1 Swedish police raids or arrests in Sweden.
Sweden taking the lead on Crowd1 company raids and arrests is important, owing to founder Jonas Werner being a Swedish nationwide.
Previous to fleeing to Dubai as Crowd1 took off, Werner is believed to have been dwelling in Spain.
After first exhibiting indicators of collapse in early 2020, Crowd1 stored the rip-off going by periodically altering its Ponzi ruse.
First it was digital shares, then playing, then apps, then dietary supplements, then crypto gaming, then shares in a UK shell firm, and at last the metaverse,
The newest ruse is a few NFT rubbish Crowd1 will launch later this yr:
Crowd1 President Kenny Nordlund confirmed the Ponzi scheme had stopped paying out in Might 2022. Apart from the brand new NFT ruse, issues have in any other case been fairly quiet.
Svenska Dagbladet managed to get former Crowd1 CEO Johan Stael von Holstein on as a visitor.
Somewhat than acknowledge his position in selling Crowd1 as an government and defrauding shoppers out of tons of cash, von Holstein trotted out the “bUt I dIdN’t KnOw!” ruse.
(Von Holstein) now says that the actual motive was that he was “essentially deceived”. That there was an influence wrestle inside the firm and that he was offered as CEO though he was not.
I didn’t get the position, energy and duty that I used to be promised. It created plenty of bother inside the group, he says within the podcast.
He says he additionally started to doubt Jonas Werner’s intentions. He says that he himself needed those that are available final to make cash, so not simply the primary and the highest layer as in pyramid schemes.
However Werner solely needed the corporate to develop, in accordance with Staël von Holstein.
I used to be completely sure that I might get Jonas to do that proper, to create tens of millions of jobs for unemployed individuals, he says.
Von Holstein cashed out of Crowd1 and disappeared again in December 2020.
Von Holstein’s social media suggests he lives in Spain however has maintained ties to Dubai.
How deep the Swedish investigation into Crowd1 goes and whether or not different international locations are concerned stays unclear.
Jonas Werner not too long ago visited Thailand to advertise Crowd1 earlier than operating again to Dubai.
As the top of Crowd1, it’s assumed Werner is within the crosshairs of Swedish authorities. Whether or not the Swedish investigation will result in a global arrest warrant stays to be seen.
Werner is believed to have to this point didn’t disclose the Swedish raid or arrests to Crowd1 traders.