Serial fraudster Andreas Kartrud has been arrested in Sweden.
Kartrud is being held in Malmo, on felony expenses associated to 46 million SEK in tax fraud (~$4.1 million USD).
Through the years BehindMLM readers have pegged Katrud as a promoter of Buying Sherlock, SwissCoin, Dominant Finance, WoToken, Up2Give, KryptoGlobe, 1 Click on Buying and selling and XOXO Community.
Kartrud (proper) formally first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar in 2020, as CEO and founding father of EtherChain. That very same yr Kartrud additionally launched TronChain and CyberChain.
The collapse of EtherChain in late 2020 particularly noticed Kartrud flee to Montenegro, the place he’s been residing off funds misappropriated by means of monetary fraud since.
Whereas it’s not fairly Dubai, Montenegro has emerged as a fascinating vacation spot for for monetary fraudsters over the previous few years.
- Do Kwon, founding father of the Terraform Labs and the terra staking Ponzi, was arrested in Montenegro in March 2024
- Roman Ziemian, co-founder of the FutureNet Ponzi, was arrested in Montenegro in August 2024 (Ziemian discovered safe-haven in Montenegro after fleeing prior arrest in Italy in late 2023)
It must be famous that whereas Montenegro does act on worldwide arrest warrants (each examples above), domestically initiated fraud investigations seem non-existent.
As soon as settled in Montenegro, Kartrud spun up Eclipcity World in January 2021. Eclipcity World, Kartrud’s fourth MLM crypto Ponzi launch in lower than a yr, lasted simply two months.
Since 2021 Kartrud seems to have deserted working his personal MLM crypto Ponzis. As an alternative, whereas residing comfortably in Montenegro, Kartrud reverted to selling different folks’s scams.
Kartrud’s newest pitch is Win-Win World, an MLM crypto Ponzi constructed round a on line casino ruse. The rip-off is believed to have ties to jap European scammers working out of Dubai.
Win-Win World’s advertising cites Kartrud as a “high chief” inside the rip-off.
For the scheduled December nineteenth Kartrud-hosted webinar, Win-Win World coated up his arrest as “technical causes”.
Sadly up to now the one reporting of Kartrud’s arrest is a December nineteenth paywalled article from Sydsvenskan.
What we do know is Kartrud was in Montenegro in November 2024. On or round December sixth, Kartrud travelled to Norway.
It seems someday after Kartrud travelled to Sweden, the place he was arrested.
Given the 46 million SEK quantity being claimed, it’s assumed Kartrud hasn’t been declaring his misappropriated earnings to any tax authority for a while.
Pending entry to the Sydsvenskan article or various reporting, we’ll hold you posted on any updates.
Replace twentieth December 2024 – From the beforehand cited Sydsvenskan article, Kartrud was arrested upon touchdown in Norway. He was then handed over to Swedish authorities.
Quoting a Swedish prosecutor, Sydsvenskan confirms Kartrud’s alleged tax fraud pertains to “undeclared earnings” associated to cryptocurrency.
In whole, the Swedish Tax Company suspects that Andreas Kartrud has made earnings of SEK 110 million in varied
cryptocurrencies throughout the years 2020 – 2022.The felony suspicions consist in the truth that he has uncared for to declare and pay taxes for his earnings.
Andreas Kartrud had by far the biggest incomes in 2021 – the yr that a number of of the pyramid schemes he himself constructed collapsed.
Kartrud claims he’s registered to pay taxes in Montenegro, however it’s unclear whether or not he’s paid any taxes since fleeing there in 2021.
A part of the investigation considerations whether or not he was nonetheless obliged to pay taxes in Sweden.
Along with the felony suspicions that may end up in imprisonment, the Swedish Tax Company requires Andreas Kartrud to pay SEK 46 million in taxes.
Kartrud stays detained in Malmo pending additional proceedings.