Former Gizmondo executive charged with embezzlement

Stefan Eriksson, a former executive with Gizmondo, has been charged with embezzlement and several other felony and criminal counts. You may remember Eriksson from his infamous crash of his $1 million Ferrari Enzo. Eriksson originally claimed that he was merely a passenger in the car as it slammed into a pole at 162 mph.

Along with embezzlement, Eriksson is being charged with grand theft and being a felon in possession of a gun. He also faces two misdemeanor counts of drunk driving. After the crash, police searched Eriksson’s Bel-Air home and found a gun. In the early 1990s, Eriksson received a felony conviction for counterfeiting and both California and Federal laws prohibit convicted felons from possessing a firearm.

Eriksson is being charged with embezzlement because his automotive lease agreements prohibited him from taking the now scrap metal Ferrari, along with another Ferrari and Mercedes, out of Great Britain. The total value of all three cars is more than $3 million.

Eriksson will be arraigned later today.