The beginnings of Ulf Jimmy Broddesson in Sweden – prison sentence

Broddesson, a Swedish national, founded a sole proprietorship in 2000 in the wholesale of cars and yachts. Together with Ivan Cicak, he later took over the company Tra Nova, which issued false invoices. For example, the sale of a Bentley Continental GTC for SEK 1.875 million resulted in commission income of SEK 50,000 (brokerage business), and the sale of a Porsche 996 for SEK 450,000 was not purchased by Tra Nova and therefore not recognised in the company accounts. The trading of various other vehicles and brokerage transactions should have been charged to another company.

To list all the companies, vehicles and yachts here would go beyond the scope of this article. However, the Helsingborg District Court concluded that “Cicak and Broddesson’s allegations that they failed to record the transactions due to ignorance, lack of time and negligence appear implausible in view of the nature and scope of the company’s activities and the involvement of an auditing firm and an auditor”. And: “Given the size and scope of the unrecorded transactions, there is no reason to accept any explanation for the failure to record other than that it was done for the purpose of tax evasion”. The two had no objections to the prison sentence of 6 months and were sentenced on 1 December 2009.

 

Ulf Jimmy Broddesson continues in Spain (Mallorca) and Switzerland

In Sweden, court judgements and private addresses are publicly available. Broddesson left Sweden and spent more time in other countries, including Spain and Switzerland.

In the course of a planned property purchase in Spain by a client, Broddesson was introduced by a British estate agent at the beginning of 2020. Broddesson described himself as a real estate agent and offered a property (penthouse) for € 2 million, including € 1 million for renovation and extension. However, Broddesson was also the owner and seller.

 

Massive deception & ripping off the buyer in a property transaction in Palma

Broddesson concealed the fact in the purchase contract that part of the building was not authorised and had therefore been built illegally. According to legal advice, this alone would be grounds for reversal and a fraud offence on Broddesson’s part. A criminal investigation is underway.

Another piquant fact: Broddesson had the customers pay him € 350,000 in addition to the purchase price “for “work and advice on the purchase of the property”. In other words, he collected a brokerage commission of 35% for the sale of his own property. Is that serious?

Later, Broddesson wanted to have a sum transferred to an account in Turkey. I wonder why? From then on, the customers became suspicious and the money finally flowed into an account of his company Swiss Property Group Sàrl in Sion, Switzerland. He also demanded €75,000 in the same way for “work and advice in connection with the renovation of the property”, regardless of the fact that he had already received €70,000 in cash for the same work around a year earlier.

 

Goodwill is abused by Broddesson

Nevertheless, Ulf Jimmy Broddesson initially enjoyed a great deal of trust from his customers. This went so far that they provided him with an Audi S6 and an Audi RSQ8. Broddesson later made these vehicles available to other people, including Matt Powell, Palma Build, and his alleged partner at the time, the Chinese Lu Yiping, who is studying Global Hospitality at the elite Les Roches International School in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Broddesson was enthusiastic about the vehicles and expressed his intention to buy them from the customers at the end of the leasing contract. The vehicles were severely damaged and the damage was not paid for – more later.

 

Inadequate project management – dubious contracts – breach of contract – and another rip-off

According to the construction management contract, the work was to be completed within 9 months or by June 22, and a penalty for delay was also agreed. The “client” defined by Broddesson, who – unlike Broddesson – never signed the contract, was liable for this. In this contract, Broddesson defined himself as a “guarantor”, although it remained completely unspecified what he was actually obliged to do. A warranty obligation of 12 months from the acceptance protocol was also agreed, but there is no such protocol. The detailed cost estimate of € 500,000 mentioned in the contract, which was supposedly accepted by the parties, is not available.

The payments for the construction work went to the company “Palma Build”, ostensibly owned by one Matt Powell. However, Broddesson is also behind it. The company was only founded shortly before the property deal. However, there was no legal basis, no contract for the payment of the construction services – previously in Sweden. The invoices were quite unspecified. The customers paid a total of €267,621 by the end of February 22. The highlight: When Broddesson later stopped the construction work in breach of contract, see below, Broddesson cheekily demanded this amount plus an additional €100,000.

On 25 October 2022, Ulf Jimmy Broddesson wrote to the customer: “I am looking forward with the great team we have now to work hard, fast & good with your great Penthouse will be so nice when completed, great place, lay-out, design & location!” We remember: the work should have been completed 3 months ago.

After justified and understandable criticism of Broddesson by the customers, he stopped the construction work on 24 April 2023 in breach of contract. He justified this with “the loss of trust and how the customers had acted against him”, which was followed by self-praise and justifications for the delays – almost a year after planned completion. At the same time, Broddesson assured customers that he would return the cars. He did, but with damage totalling almost € 80,000. Even the tyres were tattered and had to be completely replaced. A list or reimbursement of overpaid construction costs, as well as the contractually agreed liability for vehicle damage, never materialised.

Broddesson later offered to buy back the property for 1.6 million. Now that they had suffered a loss of well over 2 million. No wonder the customers had finally had enough and rejected the poisoned offer, continuing to remodel the property on their own.

 

Broddesson, Palma Build & Piotr have only built rubbish

Palma Build is the construction company that works for Broddesson. It was founded by Matt Powell, an Englishman who only speaks a little Spanish. He is the “front man” behind Jimmy Broddesson. More about Powell in the next paragraph. Piotr was in charge of the construction work. Is what this team did until the work was cancelled worth at least something?

Quantitatively, only largely no: according to the expert opinion of a local architect, only work worth around € 66,000 had been carried out to date. However, the customers had already paid € 267,621.00, and the further costs (completion plus damage repair) were estimated at around € 222,000 at the time.

But it gets even better: even what was built had to be largely demolished again (walls, ceilings, etc.) because the workmanship was completely unprofessional. To give you an idea of what to expect if Broddesson builds for you, here are a few pictures from his website and the building site in Palma for comparison:

 

The Appearance (Pictures from Broddesson’s website of his company Swiss Project Group Sàrl, Sion))	The reality (Pictures from the clients’ building site in Palma):

Contributors from Broddesson: Architect David Goodman, Matt Powell, Jérôme Zimmermann

The architect David Goodman, in Mallorca, carried out unlawful renovations that were ordered on the property project in Spain of Ulf Jimmy Broddesson. David Goodman also knew that a terrace should not have been demolished in order to preserve part of the existing building. Neighbours took photos of it and there is proof of the complete demolition.

Despite repeated requests, David Goodman never provided the client with drawings, construction plans, orders or other relevant documents, even though these had been paid for. Instead, he referred them to Broddesson, who in turn referred them back to David Goodman. A classic back-and-forth game.

Briton Matt Powell not only drove the Audi S6, but also founded the company Palma Build in Mallorca, Spain, shortly before the property project. Matt Powell invoiced the customers – after construction work had been stopped – for almost €374,000 for construction work that was supposedly still outstanding. He was therefore specifically trying to collect the amounts already paid, but with a surcharge of over €100,000. However, he had already accepted payments for the construction work, even though there was never a contractual relationship with our client.

Jérôme Zimmermann is another player and is Managing Director of Aymon Fiduciaire & Conseil SARL in Sion, Switzerland. Jérome Zimmermann is therefore domiciled at the same address as Swiss Property Group Sàrl (address: c/o Aymon Fiduciaire & Conseil SARL, Rue du Rhône 26, 1950 Sion, Switzerland), with Ulf Jimmy Broddesson as Managing Director and Jerome Zimmermann as authorised signatory. Mail addressed to Broddesson is collected at this address and it can be assumed that Jérome Zimmermann receives it on Broddesson’s behalf, which testifies to a relationship of trust.

Broddesson also runs another Spanish company, PL INWEST YACHT & PROPERTY SLU in Mallorca, Spain.

We are aware of other people associated with Broddesson. What is certain is that Broddesson is well connected and has been “handling” large sums of money for many years.

 

Do you have experience with Ulf Jimmy Broddesson, too?

Ulf Jimmy Broddesson has addresses in Palma and in Switzerland, e.g. via Jérôme Zimmermann’s c/o address Aymon Fiduciaire. The publicly visible residential address in Sweden leads to a hotel in Switzerland.

Be careful when doing business with persons and companies mentioned here. We do not generally advise against a business relationship, but you should ensure that contracts are clear and be careful with advance payments.

Do you have any information about Ulf Jimmy Broddesson, Lu Yiping, David Goodman, and Jerome Zimmermann? We are particularly interested in your experience with these people and their current business. Please feel free to contact us. We will treat your information as strictly confidential upon request.