Cherry CEO arrested for insider trading

Cherry CEO arrested for insider trading

By Vanessa Beyer Published on: May 26, 2018 Updated on: September 24, 2026

The managing director of the Swedish stock corporation Cherry, Anders Holmgren, was arrested on Tuesday (May 22) on suspicion of serious stock fraud. The CEO is said to have traded Cherry shares based on insider information. The group of companies is currently announcing his dismissal.

Behind bars: After his arrest, Anders Holmgren was fired as CEO with immediate effect. (image source)

After the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (ECA) conducted a search of the company's offices at the company's headquarters in Stockholm, managing director Anders Holmgren was arrested.

The suspect is currently in custody. Exact information about the seriousness of his offense is not yet known. However, the suspect “threatens to hinder the investigation,” as the ECA has said Swedish media is called. However, one thing is certain:

The outgoing CEO Holmgren - who is also co-founder of the Swedish online casino operator and sports betting provider Betsson - is accused of having enriched himself through insider trading in the Cherry AB group of companies, which was founded in 1972. Accordingly, Holmgren is said to have bought Cherry shares worth 12 million SEK (Swedish kroner), the equivalent of around 1.2 million euros, at the end of March, even though a reverse profit warning had previously been issued, which caused Cherry shares to fall by 3 percent.

Three weeks later, the opposite became true: Profits and sales in Q1 2018 were better than expected - growth of 26% compared to the previous year. Sales currently amount to SEK 681 million (around EUR 67 million). The share price increased by 12.3 percent as a result of the Q1 results presentation, meaning Holmgren's share increased by around SEK 1.5 million. A personal profit of the equivalent of almost 150,000 euros.

“Cherry will cooperate fully with the Office of Economic Crimes in the investigation,” the company said Anders Holmgren case, who held the position of Chief Executive Officer at Cherry since November 2017 after Fredrik Burvall left for family reasons. Holmgren had worked with Fredrik Burvall on an interim basis for over a year.

As part of the investigation, Cherry Supervisory Board Chairman Gunnar Lind will now take on the role of acting CEO. The Cherry AB gaming company is best known for its CherryCasinos brand, but also operates restaurant casinos under the name Cherry Spelglädje. The company is also the owner of the game development company Yggdrasil and also runs the successful iGaming platforms Casinostugan and ComeOn.