Serial fraudster Andreas Kartrud has been arrested in Sweden.

Kartrud is being held in Malmo, on criminal charges related to 46 million SEK in tax fraud (~$4.1 million USD).

Over the years BehindMLM readers have pegged Katrud as a promoter of Shopping Sherlock, SwissCoin, Dominant Finance, WoToken, Up2Give, KryptoGlobe, 1 Click Trading and XOXO Network.

Kartrud (right) officially first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar in 2020, as CEO and founder of EtherChain. That same year Kartrud also launched TronChain and CyberChain.

The collapse of EtherChain in late 2020 specifically saw Kartrud flee to Montenegro, where he’s been living off funds misappropriated through financial fraud since.

While it’s not quite Dubai, Montenegro has emerged as a desirable destination for for financial fraudsters over the last few years.

  • Do Kwon, founder 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 found safe-haven in Montenegro after fleeing prior arrest in Italy in late 2023)

It should be noted that while Montenegro does act on international arrest warrants (both examples above), locally initiated fraud investigations appear non-existent.

Once settled in Montenegro, Kartrud spun up Eclipcity Global in January 2021. Eclipcity Global, Kartrud’s fourth MLM crypto Ponzi launch in less than a year, lasted just two months.

Since 2021 Kartrud appears to have abandoned running his own MLM crypto Ponzis. Instead, while living comfortably in Montenegro, Kartrud reverted to promoting other people’s scams.

Kartrud’s latest pitch is Win-Win Global, an MLM crypto Ponzi built around a casino ruse. The scam is believed to have ties to eastern European scammers operating out of Dubai.

Win-Win Global’s marketing cites Kartrud as a “top leader” within the scam.

For the scheduled December 19th Kartrud-hosted webinar, Win-Win Global covered up his arrest as “technical reasons”.

Unfortunately thus far the only reporting of Kartrud’s arrest is a December 19th paywalled article from Sydsvenskan.

What we do know is Kartrud was in Montenegro in November 2024. On or around December 6th, Kartrud travelled to Norway.

It appears sometime after Kartrud travelled to Sweden, where he was arrested.

Given the 46 million SEK amount being claimed, it’s assumed Kartrud hasn’t been declaring his misappropriated income to any tax authority for some time.

Pending access to the Sydsvenskan article or alternative reporting, we’ll keep you posted on any updates.

 

Update 20th December 2024 – From the previously cited Sydsvenskan article, Kartrud was arrested upon landing in Norway. He was then handed over to Swedish authorities.

Quoting a Swedish prosecutor, Sydsvenskan confirms Kartrud’s alleged tax fraud pertains to “undeclared income” related to cryptocurrency.

In total, the Swedish Tax Agency suspects that Andreas Kartrud has made profits of SEK 110 million in various
cryptocurrencies during the years 2020 – 2022.

The criminal suspicions consist in the fact that he has neglected to declare and pay taxes for his earnings.

Andreas Kartrud had by far the largest incomes in 2021 – the year that several of the pyramid schemes he himself built collapsed.

Kartrud claims he is registered to pay taxes in Montenegro, but it is unclear whether he’s paid any taxes since fleeing there in 2021.

Part of the investigation concerns whether he was still obliged to pay taxes in Sweden.

In addition to the criminal suspicions that can result in imprisonment, the Swedish Tax Agency requires Andreas Kartrud to pay SEK 46 million in taxes.

Kartrud remains detained in Malmo pending further proceedings.