Tvind

Tvind is the informal name of a confederation of private schools, humanitarian organizations, and businesses, founded as an alternative education school in Denmark circa 1970. The organization is controversial in Denmark, where it runs a number of schools primarily for troubled youth. Some journalists, as well as former students and employees, have described the organization and its controlling body, the Teachers Group, as a political cult. Investigations by journalists and law-enforcement agencies have suggested the presence of an extensive money-laundering network within the group's commercial and non-profit ventures, wherein charitable funds are diverted to private businesses and individuals, including several of the group's leaders. In 2013, several of Tvind's senior members were sentenced by in absentia to prison in Denmark for suspected tax evasion and embezzlement, after an earlier acquittal. As of August 2016^[update], the defendants, who are wanted by Interpol, are believed to be hiding in Mexico.

Following a provision of the Danish constitution that allows any group to form a school and receive government funding, Tvind has founded numerous private schools across Denmark. According to The Copenhagen Post,

"Debate has raged for years as to whether Tvind, the western Jutland school that reformed the Danish educational system through out the ‘70s and ‘80s is a boon to the country‘s school system or little more than a hippie cult that has diminished the quality of education".

Over time, the group's financial dealings grew to encompass various non-profit and commercial enterprises such as African AIDS work, South American plantations and second-hand clothing dealers.

Some former members of the group have made allegations that Tvind is run as an authoritarian cult, controlled by an inner circle known as the "Teachers Group". Its purported leader, Mogens Amdi Petersen, had been in hiding since the 1970s and reappeared in 2002 when apprehended on charges of fraud and tax evasion. As of August 2016^[update], Petersen and a group of the organization's leaders are facing charges of fraud in Denmark.

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