Cherry Fires CEO Charged with Insider Trading

It’s been a rough week for former Cherry AB CEO Anders Holmgren. Late last week Holmgren was arrested by Swedish authorities under suspicion of insider trading. Days later, the Swedish-based gaming operator terminated him from his position by the company’s board of directors.
Holmgren’s, seemingly self-made, problems began last November with the announcement that the company would likely miss its profit targets for Q1 2018. At the time, Holmgren blamed Cherry’s projected losses on its acquisition of ComeOn Malta, a Malta-based gaming operator.
While Holmgren predicted disaster, Cherry beat expectations and turned a handsome profit in Q1 of 2018. This turn of events probably wasn’t much of a surprise to Holmgren, who had purchased $12 million SEK ($1.4 million USD) worth of the company’s stock between November and April.
Holmgren’s investment yielded positive results when Cherry stock rose more than 12 percent after beating the bad times he himself had predicted. Unfortunately for Holmgren, his behind-the-scenes stock purchases raised the attention of Sweden’s Economic Crime Authority (EBM)
The EBM moved swiftly and on May 22 arrested Holmgren at the company’s headquarters and charged him with sever insider trading. In a nod to how seriously Swedish authorities take this sort of financial crime a judge denied Holmgren bail and, as of this writing, he remains in custody.
Another group that wasn’t particularly impressed with Holmgren’s alleged financial misdeeds was the Cherry AB board of directors. Late last week they thanked him for his, “valuable contributions” to the company and dismissed him from his duties as he was, “unable” to perform any longer.
If convicted, Holmgren could be facing up to six years in prison.