The accused fraudulent Swedish businessman involved in the Falcon Funds scandal has been caught in Hungary after being on the run since November, according to Swedish paper Expressen.

The 41-year-old Emil Amir Ingmanson, who changed his name to Max Serwin, was arrested by the police in Hungary weeks after he absconded from his residence in Surrey, outside London, on 5 November 2018, a few days before a London court ruled that he should be extradited to Sweden to face charges.

Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs press officer Patric Nilsson told Expressen: “We can confirm that a Swedish citizen has recently been arrested in Hungary.”

Ingmanson served as an introducer for the Maltese registered Falcon Funds, which was only available to private pension savers in Sweden, to the Swedish pensions authority.

Falcon Funds has said that its investment manager, Temple Asset Management, invested more than €10m in savers' cash in investment products owned by Ingmanson. It has since sued Ingmanson for damages after Sweden launched a criminal investigation into the pension provider.

According to Expressen, 22.000 pension savers were scammed from almost SEK 2bn (€195m) but the police has only been able to locate about SEK 1.2bn (€117m) of the assets. SEK 800m (€78m) is still missing, the Swedish pensions authority estimated.

Ingmanson was arrested at London Heathrow airport in December 2017 and was under a house arrest. When he absconded, Ingmanson was fitted with an electronic ankle tag and had a 10pm-7am curfew. He has denied the charges through both his Swedish and British lawyers.

A special inquiry via Interpol started the search across the world. Ingmanson, originally from Sweden, is formally residing in the UK, where he moved to from Malta when Falcon Funds bust.

The Swedish Embassy in Budapest has been informed about the arrest and the staff is expected to meet Ingmanson later on Wednesday.

The scandal led to calls for an overhaul of the Sweden’s pension system by the Swedish National Pension Agency.

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