He is a Swedish aristocrat, managing director in Swiss wealth management and presumably a notorious fraudster. He apparently cheated bank clients out of millions, as research by finews.com shows.

His reputation leaves much to be desired and a number of stories about him circulate in his native Stockholm: he has been convicted several times for fraud. He cheated his siblings out of their inheritance. He is an alcoholic and drug addict, who has spent some time drying out in clinics.

In Switzerland, he is not an unknown entity either: the Swede has aristocratic roots, his father was a well-known diplomat, and clients he allegedly defrauded have turned to Swiss regulator Finma. The Genevan prosecutor Philippe Knupfer is investigating several cases of fraud against him, as he confirmed to finews.com.

Illegal Monies

The man is apparently a serial perpetrator, as research by finews.com shows. Living in Geneva, he worked for EFG International, and from 2012 to the end of 2016 at Berenberg (Switzerland), today Bergos Berenberg, as managing director, and then for several months at a Geneva wealth manager, Aldrin.

And at all these banks he allegedly defrauded his Swedish clients of their assets, in some cases involving millions. Some cases involved undeclared assets – a fact the private banker used to his advantage. The defrauded clients have yet to be compensated. Some of them are filing civil claims against Berenberg.

Compliance in Bad Light

Neither EFG nor Aldrin Wealth Management would comment to finews.com. Bank Berenberg maintains it has entered a criminal charge and is cooperating fully with the prosecuting authorities. The client advisor himself failed to respond to a query from finews.com.

Berenberg (Switzerland) was taken over recently by several wealthy Swiss and German businessmen, as reported by finews.com. The fraud case involving the Swedish client consultant doesn’t cast a very favorable light on the risk and compliance department of the newly named Bergos-Berenberg institute.

Entities Abused

Berenberg itself apparently allowed its managing director in Geneva and Stockholm to integrate the scheme in their operations. He used financial vehicles without any apparent business purpose to buy their shares and bonds without client permission, and deposit them in their portfolios.