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Trustor Scandal Mastermind Speaks Out After 30 Years in Hiding
🇸🇪 Sweden /Crime & Justice

Trustor Scandal Mastermind Speaks Out After 30 Years in Hiding

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • Joachim Posener, the alleged mastermind behind the Trustor financial scandal, has broken his nearly 30-year silence in a new Netflix documentary.
  • Posener details his years in hiding within favelas in Brazil and European cities after a 1997 investigation into the Trustor affair.
  • The documentary explores Posener's version of events, his grand ambitions, and his connections to Stockholm's criminal underworld, while noting that Trustor shareholders ultimately did not lose money due to settlements.

For nearly three decades, Joachim Posener lived in hiding, disappearing into the favelas of Brazil and the bustling metropolises of Europe. Now, the 62-year-old is finally sharing his side of the story in a new Netflix documentary, "Trustorhärvan" (The Trustor Affair).

Was it worth not sitting in prison for another ten years? Absolutely.

— Joachim PosenerPosener reflects on his decision to go into hiding rather than serve further prison time.

"Was it worth not sitting in prison for another ten years? Absolutely," Posener states in the film, reflecting on his life on the run. His disappearance in October 1997 followed journalist Gunnar Lindstedt's exposé of the Trustor affair and a police raid in Sweden. Facing a prison sentence, Posener, then 33, with a wife and children, refused to return to Norrtäljeanstalten.

He sought help from individuals in Stockholm's criminal underworld, acquiring a false identity and vanishing. "These people hid me in a small village in Brazil. I lived there for many years," Posener recounts. Director Karin af Klintberg managed to locate Posener, a feat the police could not achieve. Their initial meetings were clandestine, with Posener initially agreeing to be filmed only from behind. He eventually revealed his face to the camera, explaining his transformation: "To avoid being found, you have to look completely different from what everyone expects. So, the curly, black-haired Joachim shaved his head. The slightly chubby Joachim got fit. I swapped glasses for contacts."

These people hid me in a small village in Brazil. I lived there for many years.

— Joachim PosenerPosener describes his years spent in hiding in Brazil after fleeing Sweden.

The Trustor affair, one of Sweden's largest white-collar crime investigations, involved the plunder of the investment company Trustor. The group, known as "Team Moyne," used Lord Moyne as a front, acquiring a majority stake in Trustor in May 1997. However, the purchase was financed directly from Trustor's own funds, with 620 million Swedish kronor transferred to a London bank and then distributed to entities in twelve countries. Through settlements with involved banks and agreements with several individuals, authorities eventually recovered significant amounts, meaning Trustor's shareholders became unexpected winners, not losers.

To avoid being found, you have to look completely different from what everyone expects. So, the curly, black-haired Joachim shaved his head. Slightly chubby Joachim got fit. I swapped glasses for contacts.

— Joachim PosenerPosener explains the physical transformations he underwent to evade detection.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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