Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 21, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleSweden’s Supreme Court has overturned the Svea Court of Appeal’s 15‑month prison sentence for former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen, concluding that her media answers in October 2018 were protected by freedom of speech and acquitting her in full.
STOCKHOLM, April 21 (Reuters) - Sweden's Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen over her handling of the bank's anti-money laundering work, overturning the guilty verdict of a lower court that had sentenced her to 15 months in prison.
An appeals court in 2024 found Bonnesen guilty of gross fraud over statements she made to the media in October 2018 regarding anti-money laundering measures at Swedbank's Estonian branch.
Prosecutors had argued that her statements gave misleading information to shareholders and the public - intentionally or through negligence - on the bank's measures to prevent, uncover and report suspicion of money laundering in the Baltic country.
But the Supreme Court, in a statement accompanying its verdict, said Bonnesen's answers to questions from reporters were covered by freedom of expression and that she had been "fully acquitted."
"It has not in any way emerged that her purpose was to use the interviews as a means of disseminating misleading information that would affect the assessment of the bank in financial terms," the court said.
Bonnesen, Swedbank's CEO from 2016 to 2019, had denied all charges against her.
In 2023, a Swedish district court found her not guilty of all accusations, but the appeals court the following year convicted her on one count while acquitting her on six other charges involving gross fraud and market manipulation.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)
Former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen was acquitted by the Swedish Supreme Court.
Birgitte Bonnesen was accused of gross fraud related to misleading statements about Swedbank's anti-money laundering efforts.
The Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict, fully acquitting Birgitte Bonnesen.
The Supreme Court stated that the CEO's answers were covered by freedom of speech, leading to her acquittal.
Birgitte Bonnesen served as Swedbank's CEO from 2016 to 2019.
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