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Vice Blog

SKURKS AND RAJAS

Skurk magazine (skurk is Swedish for "crook") was founded by Raja Arlevin, who's about to go to jail for advertisement fraud, and Liam Norberg, his bank-robber-turned-writer buddy he met at the gym in the 80s. It is Sweden's first by-criminals-for-criminals publication and it makes F.E.D.S. look like a high-school newspaper.

Contents range from cogent take-downs of the Swedish judicial system to tips from crooks on when it's legal to kill to ranked lists of successful crimes to profiles of famous Swedish gangsters (yes, we have those). I have a burning fascination with Skurk, so I went to their office and sat down with Raja to talk about it. Alanis Morrisette was playing over the PA and the mood was right…

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VICE: True Crime/Stieg Larsson kind of stuff has been on the upswing in Sweden the last few years. Do you consider Skurk part of this wave?
Raja Arlevin: Eh, I got the idea back in 2007, so not really. I had already been prosecuted and started getting interested in other legal cases. Crime journalism in Sweden at the time was mostly just relays of police reports, so an investigative magazine willing to question these reports was needed. People have blind faith in the media and I’ve personally seen how bad it can get.

How bad can it get?
I’ve been unjustly convicted. I'm innocent, but my case was on a TV show so everyone believes I'm guilty. I had to change my name and have since tried to sue the journalist who slandered me, but it’s been difficult because the TV show was broadcast from Britain. The case is now at the European Court of Human Rights.

Well that's good! And since you're innocent your case should be a lock. What evidence have they got against you?
There is none! The prosecutor used that TV program as evidence, calling it “good documentation,” which is outrageous as it’s obviously an angled reality show tailored to get high viewing figures. It would have been different if the journalist had caught me red-handed, but he just assumed I was guilty. And that was used as evidence in my trial!

So you founded a magazine that takes the crook’s side.
I’d rather call it taking the condemned’s side. The convicted usually shy away from the media, but they trust us. We aim to get insights into areas that never reach the public’s eyes, like the process behind verdicts. In Sweden, judges can do whatever they like without having to take official or personal responsibility, and nobody will call them on it. We want to change that.

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Do you have a hard time getting interviews with judges and other authority figures?
No, because we’ve made a point of working with people from both sides of the law. For example, the former chief county commissioner, Gunnar Gunnmo, is writing for us.

Is advertisement fraud the first crime you’ve been convicted of?
Yes. I don’t have a criminal background but, growing up in a Stockholm suburb, I know people who do. Everyone wants to be successful and with the alienation we have in Sweden, crime is the only way to “make it” for some people.

Right. What content are you most proud of so far?
In our first issue we ran a story called "100-miljonersklubben" ("the 100 million club").

That was the one listing the biggest crooks and how they’re on the “right” side of the law. The ones who make headlines are bank robbers who don’t ever come near the same sums.
Exactly. What provoked people about that piece was that I, the Editor-in-Chief, was among the people who were on the suspects list for swindling over 100 million Swedish crowns.

What happened with that story I read about the prisoner who sued the prison for not letting him read Skurk?
He won; they can’t forbid people to read us, not even in prison. They claim we encourage criminal conduct, but that’s not true. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have had people like the former chief county commissioner writing for us. We actually take a stand against crime.

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Fair enough. When are you going to jail?
I don’t know when exactly, sometime between two to six months from now. It’s a constant battle against the clock. Hopefully the magazine will still be around when I get out of jail. I’ve also started a brand new project, a service called The Crook Top, which helps companies protect themselves from spoof companies. I guess it’s a bit ironic seeing as I’ve been accused of starting up 15 different fraudulent companies. One would think I have unfinished business with the owners of those companies… but that’s not why we started The Crook Top. It’s a great service and we’re great at what we do. Spoof companies turn over around one billion Swedish crowns every year.

Will you be able to continue doing Skurk from jail?
I hope so, but someone else will have to take on the Editor-in-Chief and CEO role.

Are you scared?
No.

I guess Swedish prisons aren’t that bad, I’ve heard they’re the nicest prisons in the world. Crooks from all over should migrate.
Yes, but I have to be very careful not to tell the other convicts what my charges are, everyone has warned me of that. They can force you to participate in their frauds, so one has to be really careful, especially when charged with embezzling 100 million SEK.

But you have nothing to worry about since you wouldn’t even know how to do such a thing, right?
True.

MILENE LARSSON

For more information, visit skurk.com.