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LOS ANGELES - A Swedish former video game executive who made headlines by destroying a US$1 million ($1.5 million) Ferrari in a spectacular crash was sentenced yesterday to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzlement and drunken driving charges.
Under the terms of a surprise
plea agreement entered days after a jury became deadlocked on the charges against him in a mistrial, Bo Stefan Eriksson, 44, also had his multimillion-dollar California mansion seized and was ordered to be deported from the United States after serving his sentence.
The crash unravelled a high-flying life of big spending, luxury cars, burned-out businesses and a criminal record for fraud that included five years in jail in Sweden. A month before the crash, Eriksson had declared bankruptcy with debts of US$200 million.
- REUTERS