Dirty banking

Swedbank may have been used for extensive, systematic money laundering for nearly a decade. 50 of the bank's customers have funneled a total of 5.8 billion US dollars between accounts in Swedbank and Danske Bank in the Baltics, and they are showing several risk indicators of suspected money laundering. 

We follow stolen money from the most extensive tax fraud of its kind in Russian history to about 50 accounts in Swedbank. Furthermore, bank transactions show that Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort received nearly one million dollars in black money through Swedbank.

Mission investigate’s inquiry has been extensive and fronted in both Swedish and international media. Swedbank's market capitalization decreased by 32 percent and the bank launched its own internal investigation. President and CEO of Swedbank Birgitte Bonnesen was dismissed and Chairman Lars Idermark resigned. The CEO and CFO of the Management Board of Swedbank Estonia have been suspended as a consequence of the bank’s ongoing internal investigation. The bank is also under investigation by Financial industry regulators in Sweden and Estonia, and the New York State Department of Financial Services in the USA.

“Sweden was not on our radar at all. It is perceived as an uncorrupt country.”

Original title: Uppdrag Granskning: Swedbank och penningtvätten

Genre: Current Affairs, Investigative, Documentary

Duration: 58 or 81 minutes

Year of Production: 2019

Editor in chief: Ulf Johansson

Editor of team: Nils Hanson

Research: Per Agerman

Photography & Editor: Ola Christofferson & Markus Junghard

Produced by: Joachim Dyfvermark, Linda Larsson Kakuli & Axel Gordh Humlesjö, Mission Investigate/SVT

Screener request: sales@svt.se