Swede to stand trial over Ferrari-from-Britain crash
A Swedish businessman accused of stealing a rare Ferrari he had shipped from Britain and wrecking it on California’s Pacific Coast Highway will stand trial on embezzlement, theft and other charges.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles Palmer ruled that there was sufficient evidence to order Bo Eriksson to trial, not only on charges relating to the 162mph crash on February 21 involving the £560,000 (€812,000) red Ferrari Enzo, but also for his possession of two other luxury cars he is accused of stealing.
He will appear in court on May 15.
Palmer also lowered Eriksson’s bail from €4.5m to €2.5m, saying he was “struck by the fact” the original figure was five times the normal amount for a person charged with murder. If Eriksson posts bail, however, he must surrender his passport and submit to electronic monitoring.
Eriksson, 44, was returned to jail after Palmer’s ruling, which came at the end of a three-day preliminary hearing.
The former executive of Gizmondo Europe Ltd, a video game company that failed last year, appeared in court in an orange jail jumpsuit.
Eriksson, who followed the proceedings with the aid of a Swedish interpreter, did not speak and showed little reaction to Palmer’s ruling. His lawyers refused to comment afterwards.
A sheriff’s detective told the court that Eriksson told him during a search of his Bel-Air mansion that he was behind the wheel of the Ferrari when it struck a utility pole at an estimated 162mph and disintegrated. Erikkson suffered only minor injuries.
“He was driving the red Ferrari at the time of the crash, was knocked unconscious. He’d gotten sick and threw up,” Zack Conner said.
The detective also said Eriksson told him he shipped the car from Britain to the US and still owed a bank hundreds of thousands on it.
Investigators said Eriksson told them immediately after the crash that he was a passenger in the car, which was driven by a man he knew only as Dietrich. A search of the area failed to turn up Dietrich, who, authorities have concluded, does not exist.
Eriksson was ordered to stand trial on three counts of embezzlement, three of grand theft auto, two counts involving driving under the influence, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He faces up to 14 years in prison
Conner told the court that Eriksson told him he shipped three cars to the US: the Enzo Ferrari and two other luxury cars.
Prosecutors say he acquired all three through lease agreements with British banks that he never paid off, then illegally shipped them to the US.
Defence lawyer Paul Takakjian acknowledged that Eriksson had listed three people other than himself as buyers of the cars when he shipped them from Britain last year, but argued that he did so not to steal them but to get around a customs rule allowing only one car import per person.
But Palmer said evidence indicated “there was either a concealment or an effort to fraudulently dispose of the cars”.
Conner said the three banks through which Eriksson had leased the vehicles told him the businessman did not have permission to take the cars out of the UK.
The banks also said he defaulted on the car loans less than six months after obtaining the vehicles.
A bank agent said he reported one of the cars – a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren - stolen in February, to police in London, Conner said. The official said he learned through the media four days later that it had been impounded by Beverly Hills police.
On the firearms charge, Eriksson told police the .357-calibre handgun belonged to Orange County sheriff’s reserve Deputy Roger Davis, the court heard.
Prosecutors charged Eriksson with a weapons offence because he served five and a half years in a Swedish prison for assaults, threats and extortion charges and was not allowed to possess a firearm.
