Former Gizmondo Exec in Court for Firearms and Grand Theft Charge
Forgery, narcotics and firearms: the Gizmondo caper continues!
Fat Steve brings new meaning to the term, 'hand-held'
The dark and twisted story of the fast-living, ex-Gizmondo Europe exec Stefan Eriksson – a.k.a. Fat Steve, continues this week. The ex-mobster is to be retried on counts of fraud and grand theft after a mistrial was declared, with the jury being split 10-to-2 in favour of conviction.
"We are going to try him. It was 10-2 for conviction, so obviously we believe we have a strong case," Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for District Attorney, Steve Cooley, told the LA Times.
The charges relate to a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and a black Ferrari Enzo, two vehicles which Eriksson had stopped making payments on. Eriksson had transferred ownership of the two luxury motors to employees, then had them shipped abroad in violation of lending contracts.
For those not aware of the background to the story, you can see SPOnG’s previous news coverage of the many tall stories surrounding and the fall-out from that 162mph booze-fuelled Enzo crash in Malibu from earlier this year in SPOnG news.
It was fortunate for Eriksson that he survived the crash pretty much intact. It was rather less fortunate that the crash drew considerable police and public attention to his lifestyle, with the two stolen and illegally-shipped cars mentioned above coming to light, not to mention more problems for Eriksson when deputies searching his Bel-Air house turned up a gun.
Eriksson has nine criminal convictions in Sweden for forgery, narcotics and firearms offenses so therefore cannot legally possess a gun. The firearms trial begins later this week. In the meantime Eriksson sits tight at LA’s Men's Central Jail due to a hold put in place by federal immigration agents.
The Gizmondo caper continues! SPOnG will be sure to bring you the latest on this on-going saga of shame as we get it.
Does anybody still own or even play their Gizmondo? Tell us in the forums about your own experiences with the doomed handheld.
"We are going to try him. It was 10-2 for conviction, so obviously we believe we have a strong case," Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for District Attorney, Steve Cooley, told the LA Times.
The charges relate to a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and a black Ferrari Enzo, two vehicles which Eriksson had stopped making payments on. Eriksson had transferred ownership of the two luxury motors to employees, then had them shipped abroad in violation of lending contracts.
For those not aware of the background to the story, you can see SPOnG’s previous news coverage of the many tall stories surrounding and the fall-out from that 162mph booze-fuelled Enzo crash in Malibu from earlier this year in SPOnG news.
It was fortunate for Eriksson that he survived the crash pretty much intact. It was rather less fortunate that the crash drew considerable police and public attention to his lifestyle, with the two stolen and illegally-shipped cars mentioned above coming to light, not to mention more problems for Eriksson when deputies searching his Bel-Air house turned up a gun.
Eriksson has nine criminal convictions in Sweden for forgery, narcotics and firearms offenses so therefore cannot legally possess a gun. The firearms trial begins later this week. In the meantime Eriksson sits tight at LA’s Men's Central Jail due to a hold put in place by federal immigration agents.
The Gizmondo caper continues! SPOnG will be sure to bring you the latest on this on-going saga of shame as we get it.
Does anybody still own or even play their Gizmondo? Tell us in the forums about your own experiences with the doomed handheld.
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Comments
Dreadknux 6 Nov 2006 20:11
1/1
I saw one in the Spong office once, poor little thing, still looked like it was being used (ie. no dust). What was up with that? :P