For some in Mallorca, there will be echoes of John Hirst, who was jailed for nine years in 2012 for his part in a Ponzi scheme that had been set up on the island. Ponzi and pyramid schemes aren't exactly the same, but they both require flows of new investors and ultimately collapse.
On October 2, the Guardia Civil raided homes in Santa Ponsa and Son Espanyol (Palma). Three people were arrested in connection with an allegedly fraudulent pyramid investment scheme - 64-year-old Swedish citizen, Roger Hedin, and his 52-year-old wife, as well as a 67-year-old British man.
One victim in Mallorca is said to have lost €310,000. This person reported the matter in summer 2023. This was three years after a pyramid scheme in Sweden appears to have ended. 67-year-old Michael Grant, a Swedish citizen, explains that 23 people were victims of the scheme in Sweden. They lost a total of €350,000; in his case, €25,000.
It started in January 2018 via entities known as Frux Clearing and Frux Private Bank. "It seemed promising; every week we received information about the values, the dollar, the pound, up to fifteen different currencies. It seemed legitimate and very easy to invest. It's true that I thought it was too good to be true; I should have known better." In March 2020, funds were diverted to Summit Trade, "a shadowy company we knew nothing about; we never got the money back".
Grant is critical of the Swedish authorities and a failure to investigate the case. He and the others accuse Roger Hedin of having been the leader of the scheme. Hedin, for his part, maintains his innocence, claims that he "was just another investor" and attaches the blame to a business partner who has since died.
His legal team, demanding full respect for the presumption of innocence, has stated: "Roger was just one of many investors in Frux Clearing and has never been an owner or director of said company (or any other company linked to it), nor has he ever benefited from investments made by third parties. He suffered the same financial losses as all the other investors because he firmly believed in the soundness of the investments."
Michael Grant has travelled to Mallorca in order to share information he has with the Guardia Civil and a law firm representing victims. The same modus operandi used in Sweden, he says, was later used in Mallorca. Grant believes he knows the name of the Briton to have been arrested. After the funds were diverted to Summit Trade, he apparently became the contact person. "He spoke to us in Swedish but with a slight British accent. He was in charge of calling the investors and telling them about bitcoins, other opportunities, and even exerting some pressure to get them to invest."
Following his arrest, Roger Hedin appeared in court and was released with precautionary measures - the confiscation of his passport and the obligation to present himself to a court periodically until his trial. The Swedish victims are considering joining the Mallorcan case, but Grant acknowledges they may prefer not to. "People with high purchasing power are ashamed of having fallen for a pyramid scheme. They weren't even sure about me coming to Mallorca to find out what's happening with the investigation here, but I think it's the only way to recover the money we've lost."