He has also been ordered to pay damages of over 111 million kronor to his victims.

The trial of Torgny Jönsson involved accusations from twelve different investors who had invested in what they thought was a major international project.

The money was to be invested abroad and Jönsson promised the investors reliable, exponential returns. But the returns never materialized, and the investors’ money disappeared.

The complaint asserted that the investors were given fake documents, received misleading telephone calls, and participated in meetings arranged with phony business contacts.

The evidence relied largely on tapped telephone conversations.

The police have not been able to trace exactly where the investors’ money has gone. According to prosecutor Martin Bresman, Jönsson cooperated with several overseas contacts to carry out the scam.

The court found that Jönsson did not have a plausible explanation for what happened to the large sums of money. Consequently the judge had serious doubts that the various investment vehicles ever existed.

A 28-year-old co-accused in the case was convicted of receiving stolen money, and sentenced to 160 hours’ of community service.

A third suspect was acquitted.