It appears Elias Pettersson has fallen victim to a crooked real estate agent in Sweden.
Two years ago the Vancouver Canucks star player reportedly bought a luxury home worth approximately C$3.4 million in Danderyd, a suburb of Stockholm.
The 26-year-old grew up in Sundsvall, which is approximately a four-hour drive from the Swedish capital city. He spends his summers back in his home country during the NHL offseason.
But it was a regrettable purchase.
“It turned out that the house had many flaws that needed to be fixed,” Pettersson’s father Torbjörn told Leif Johansson of the Sundsvalls Tidning newspaper.
The house was larger than the building permit allowed, which could have required the structure to be moved or even demolished, according to the report.
Pettersson wanted to cancel the purchase and the dispute ended up in court. The court sided with Pettersson, as it was determined the Canucks centre was allowed to pull out of the deal. But Pettersson didn’t get his money back for his 2.7 million Swedish Kronor downpayment, which converts to approximately $353,000 in Canadian funds.
That money reportedly fell into the hands of the seller’s real estate agent, who turned out to be a fraudster. He was sentenced to six years in prison after defrauding others in similar real estate deals.
“The money is gone. Just forget about it and move on,” Pettersson’s father added.
Pettersson signed a US$92.8 million contract with the Canucks last year, so luckily that’s something he should be able to do.