Swedish Startup Execs Arrested for Alleged Sexual Assault Against a 19-Year-Old at the W Hotel

Nitasha Tiku — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:07:45 -0400

Mr. Adalberth via Crunchbase

Early this morning, the New York Post reported that two "Swedish tourists" were arrested for allegedly molesting a 19-year-old Texas woman at the W Hotel on Lexington Avenue and East 50th Street. The alleged attack occurred at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Case details on the New York State Court site confirm that Niklas Adalberth, 30, was one of the men arrested. The Post reports that Jens Saltin, 31, was also arrested. "Adalberth allegedly straddled her body while he and Saltin ripped off her clothes and fondled her," the paper said. According to the document, the arrests occurred Saturday night around 10.30 p.m.

Both Mr. Adalberth, a former economics student, and Mr. Saltin are executives at the Swedish startup Klarna, which, based on this news, was trending just under Pinterest on Crunchbase earlier this afternoon.

A copy of the complaint obtained by Betabeat says both defendants are accused of one count of "sexual abuse in the first degree." The complaint says:

"Defendant Adalberth straddled informant, both defendants removed informant's clothes, and defendant Adalberth grabbed informant's breast. Deponent is further informed that she did not consent to said conduct."

Klarna, a payment solution for e-commerce that helps assess and minimize credit risk, has raised a total of $166 million in funding, most recently a $155 million pre-IPO round from General Atlantic and Yuri Milner's Digital Sky Technologies. Storied Sand Hill Road firm Sequoia Capital was behind Klarna's $9 million series B round in 2010, after which Sequoia partner Michael Moritz, who previously invested in Google, PayPal, and Zappos, joined Klarna's board.

In a post about its latest funding this past December, TechCrunch said, "The new round almost certainly puts Klarna’s valuation within spitting distance of Europe’s billion-dollar tech club." At the time, Klarna had 600 employees and was processing $2.5 billion worth of payments.

Mr. Adalberth is listed as Klarna's COO and one of three co-founders. Business Insider points to Mr. Saltin's LinkedIn profile, which lists the former Goldman Sachs intern as Klarna's vice president of sales in the Netherlands.

PC World says both men were released on a $10,000 bail and are due back in court on Friday. In a statement to TechCrunch, Klarna offered the following:

"We are aware of the alleged incident in New York City involving Niklas Adalberth and Jens Saltin. Both Mr. Adalberth and Mr. Saltin maintain their innocence and have taken temporary leave from the company while the matter is being investigated."

In the meantime, it looks like someone finally told TechCrunch to take "klarna-execs-rape" out of their URL. It now reads "klarna-execs-crime."

Betabeat » Swedish Startup Execs Arrested for Alleged Sexual Assault Against a 19-Year-Old at the W Hotel

Swedish Startup Execs Arrested for Alleged Sexual Assault Against a 19-Year-Old at the W Hotel