People have invested everything they have. Others have borrowed large sums. One person committed a crime.
Retired banker Kurt claims that, along with some others, he has accounts abroad with many billions. Money to come from successful currency transactions, land deals or bond trading.
He claims that there are constantly fees that must be paid quickly to close the accounts and transfer money to Sweden.
It is about currency fees, taxes and notifications - sometimes at several hundred thousand kronor.
Is about million amountsAssignment review has been in contact with many of the people who have invested money in the so-called business over the years, several of which have brought over millions. The first deposits came as early as 2001 - and it is still ongoing today. This year alone, several people have put in millions.
One of those who invested money is Jan, he comes in contact with Kurt through an old acquaintance.
- It was these text messages that came, the account of where the deal was somewhere. One appeals to raise money, and then on Fridays often came a message that "now the money is paid, now the deal is done, on Monday we will start sharing the profits".
"It's incredible"On 43 occasions, Jan deposits money. When Assignment Review hits him, the text from Kurt continues to come in.
- "Now I'm going to be right when I say that now the deal is done." Since yesterday, just after eight in the evening, it came this: "Fy fuck, what I wrote to you was true today at one o'clock. Then I got information from a person that the exchange rate difference in currency accounts had the banks failed to produce. So we have to arrange 100,000 ourselves and it will be paid directly tomorrow morning. "
How can you be so naive that you go in with so much money?
- Yes, I have also asked that question many times. It is inconceivable simply.
What answer do you have then? How could you do that?
- Blue-eyed. Believe in man. So you are ashamed of this. Thats how it is.
The promises of the retired banker have been similar for 20 years. None of those with whom Assignment Review has been in contact have seen any money. Jan Olsson, a fraud expert at the police, does not hesitate when he hears about the "deal".
- This follows the scheme of investment fraud to the point and dot, from a to z. This approach is, after all, modus operandi, the first page of the school book. This is how it works.
For 40 years Kurt worked at Handelsbanken in Umeå, at the beginning of the story with the "deal" he turned to old customers. The widow of an entrepreneur who invested over SEK 4 million tells Assignment Review that Kurt took advantage of the trust her husband had for him.
The man invested all his savings, when he died 10 years ago he left behind debts.
- I think everyone who has been tricked into this had confidence in him because he was just a banker. They believed in him, she says.
Woman sentenced to prisonIn 2004, Kurt is reported to police for suspected fraud and embezzlement, after the "deal" was noticed in the newspaper Folkbladet a year earlier. He has then left Sweden and is wanted internationally. When he returns in 2008, an investigation will begin, which will be closed shortly thereafter, partly due to prescription
It is now 10 years before he reappears in public.
In 2018, Kurt gets in touch with a woman in Jokkmokk who works as a Chancellor in Jokkmokk's associate life. For a few months, he manages to convince the woman to invest all her savings. She also takes out large loans and uses her partner's money to finance the so-called business.
As Kurt continues to ask for money, the woman decides to start taking money from a large number of associations in Jokkmokk.
She is reported to the police, prosecuted and sentenced in 2019 to 1.5 years in prison for trespassing against the principal.
Police report for fraudThe woman reports Kurt to the scam and a preliminary investigation starts - but is closed after six months. It turns out that not a penny of the money from Jokkmokk has gone to Kurt, but to a completely different person.
Prosecutor Andreas Nyberg was the one who made the decision to close the preliminary investigation.
Can you not be guilty of fraud if you do not receive the money yourself but leave someone else in their place?
- Then you can also be guilty of fraud. But it must be possible to find out that that connection exists. We found out that the money had not gone to him. And what we saw in the investigation was, in accordance with his own information, that he had invested some money in some form of investment which he considered to be legitimate.
But you still can't tell me today where the money went somewhere?
- No. I can not.
"I haven't earned a single buck"In an interview with the police, Kurt says that he, together with his family, invested SEK 30 million in the so-called deal. Among other things, their entire occupational pension from Handelsbanken of SEK 14 million. He points out another person as the main man, a man named Mikael. It should be with him all the money, from Jan and the woman in Jokkmokk, among others, ended up.
When Kurt is confronted by Assignment Review, he says that everyone who has invested in the so-called deal will get their money back when the "deal" locks.
- You can seek out my lawyer and talk to him. I haven't earned a single buck of this.
Central role in the "business"The man Kurt mentions in the investigation, Mikael, comes from the Gothenburg area but moves in 2003 to the Caribbean and the island of Santa Lucia. Since then, there is no information about him in the general ledger.
But Mission Review has found traces of Mikael in other documents.
In 2015, the Swedish Tax Agency discovered hundreds of deposits totaling 15 million from private individuals to his Swedish bank accounts, money that can be linked to Kurt.
And it turns out that Mikael does not live abroad at all, but lives with his wife in a community outside Gothenburg. He drives an exclusive car written on his wife. Assignment review can also show that he has interests in at least two street kitchens and a restaurant. All remodeled and newly opened.
This despite the fact that for a couple of years he got rid of his sickness pension and today completely lack income.
According to Assignment Review's mapping, it is Mikael who has managed large portions of the money that banker Kurt manages to get people to invest.
"Should I die without knowing?"But where the money has finally taken the road, there is no answer today. One of those who wonder is Stefan Lybeck, one of many Umea residents who invested their money.
- I would like to know physically, are they in a bank deposit or are they with any millionaire down in the Mediterranean, he asks and continues:
- The Kennedy murder, the Palm murder, Kurt's money. It's the same dignity. Should I die without knowing where they are? Because I realize I will never get any money but I would like the answers.
Jan Olsson, a fraud expert at the Police, has never before heard of such extensive investment fraud as this.
- What also stands out is that Swedes are behind it. It is very unusual. And if you found that there are 100 million who have disappeared to these players, then the dark figure is good much greater than that.
Assignment review has tried to get in touch with Mikael, without success.
The report "Banker's promises" will be sent on Wednesday, October 2 in SVT1 8 pm.