Arrest In Case Of $1M Car Crash

A Swedish video game executive involved in the crash a $1 million Ferrari in Malibu has been arrested on suspicion of grand theft.

Stefan Eriksson, 44, was arrested at his Bel-Air home after detectives searched it for six hours on Friday, said Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Detectives concluded the wrecked Enzo Ferrari, along with a Mercedes and another Enzo Ferrari in Eriksson's $3.5 million collection, were owned by British financial institutions, said Whitmore.

Eriksson apparently brought the cars to Los Angeles when he moved here from Britain last year. But financial institutions that held titles to the vehicles said payments had lapsed, Whitmore said.

"This is the beginning of the investigation," said Whitmore. "All three cars have now been confiscated."

Eriksson was being held without bail, and immigration authorities had placed a hold on him.

Eriksson was in the Ferrari that police say was traveling about 162 mph when it hit a pole along Pacific Coast Highway and all but disintegrated. He escaped the February crash with only a cut lip.

The crash spun into a complicated web of mystery when Eriksson told authorities he was a passenger in the car and that the driver, a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich, ran into the nearby hills after crashing the Ferrari during a race with a Mercedes.

Sheriff's deputies launched a search but failed to find Dietrich.

Eriksson was an executive with Gizmondo, a European video game company that crashed with some $200 million in debts.