Swedish court acquits former Swedbank CEO of fraud charges

STOCKHOLM - Sweden's Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen of fraud charges, overturning a lower court's conviction that had sentenced her to 15 months in prison.

In 2019, Swedish public broadcaster SVT revealed that at least 40 billion kronor (approximately four billion euros) in suspicious funds had moved through Swedbank accounts in the Baltic states.

The revelation caused the bank's share price to plummet and led to Bonnesen's resignation.

A year later, Sweden's financial supervisory authority fined the bank SEK 4 billion (EUR 360 million) and ordered it to comply with anti-money laundering laws.

In January 2022, Bonnesen was charged with aggravated fraud.

According to the prosecution, Bonnesen "intentionally or out of gross negligence" provided false information about the bank's measures to prevent, detect, and impede money laundering, and to report suspicious activity to the authorities.

"The statements conveyed a misleading message that there were no suspicious money laundering links with another bank operating in Estonia."

Prosecutors also accused Bonnesen of sharing inside information by notifying the bank's major shareholders about the imminent release of the SVT documentary.

The Court of Appeal found that the information shared with the shareholders was not specific enough to be considered inside information, and therefore acquitted Bonnesen of that charge.