Under US asylum protection, Victor X continues his fight against global corruption. Following a $4.2 billion lawsuit against Sweden’s financial elite, he now alleges Turkey is financing much of his Scandanavian homeland’s investments via the largest drug trafficking operation in history.
Victor X, formerly Victor Carlström, garnered over a million views this past week on Instagram when he posted a video message promising “shockwaves around the world.” Specifically, X is calling for President Joe Biden to place sanctions on both Sweden and Turkey.
Once a top banker and financial agent in Sweden, X is now under US asylum protection, the only northern European to hold that privilege, he says. Along with his accumulated wealth, the asylee status is about all he has left since losing his country, his home, and even a relationship with his ex-wife and two children. With essentially nothing to lose, X is not shying away from calling out what he says is global organized crime.
On June 17, X uploaded a video accusing Turkish officials of laundering illegal drug money across Sweden in connection to a Turkish drug trafficking operation in Latin America. This, X explained, is all based upon findings stemming from his $4.2 billion lawsuit filed in US federal courts against Swedbank CEO Jens Henriksson and other leaders in Sweden’s financial industry.
“Billions have been invested into real estate and infrastructure across Sweden,” X said. “Sweden is drowning in Turkish drug money,” he added, naming Henriksson as a key manager of investments. To compound the bombshell report, X also stated that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was involved. For X, the Turkish connection to his initial case against Swedish authorities is clear.
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After fleeing Sweden, he carried burner cell phones in order to hide on his way to securing asylum protection. At one point, all of his burner phones started ringing at the same time showing numbers from Turkey. This happened days after negotiations broke down with Katrin Westling Palm, the head of the Swedish Tax Agency. X alleges she has dealings with Turkish companies.
X also suspects it was a Turkish man who attempted to kill him in New York City, and that’s not the only time X nearly met a fateful end at the hands of attackers. After fleeing with his family from Sweden to the Netherlands and then the United Arab Emirates, X eventually made it to New York City along with his wife at the time and their kids. It was there at a hotel that he fended off an intruder into their hotel room.
“I had my 6-year-old screaming in death panic next to me,” he said. That was enough for his spouse at that point. “They took off to Europe,” X recalled in his video. Since that time, four years ago, he’s attempted suicide twice. But he’s also risen above, bringing his story to the masses. Now his biggest challenges lie ahead.
His lawsuit against the heads of Swedbank, Folksam, and others made it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, just below the Supreme Court. However, it abruptly came to an end following another Swedish whistleblower’s call to X that his communications with his lawyers were under Swedish surveillance.
X was shocked but not surprised considering he survived 14 Swedish criminal investigations into his companies and tax records. He believes these baseless probes were used to justify the wiretapping of him. Consequently, he dropped that case in order to take up an even bigger one in the European Court of Human Rights, this time targeting Turkey as well as his home country.
He had planned a hunger strike at the White House to bring pressure on the Biden administration to place sanctions on Sweden, but since the militarization and closure of the Capitol area, that’s not going to be possible.
Regardless, his audience continues to grow. Is it any wonder? X is a man estranged from the country he grew up in and going up against the most powerful forces in politics and finance. Many Americans, and indeed people across the world, can relate to this dynamic in a time of national populism worldwide. As long as X keeps fighting, people will keep watching.
