RAPE CONVICTION IN NOBEL CIRCLE

The man at the centre of a sex abuse and financial crimes scandal in Sweden that is tarnishing the academy that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature was convicted of rape and sentenced Monday to two years in prison.

Jean-Claude Arnault, 72, a major cultural figure in Sweden, was found guilty of one rape from 2011 but was acquitted of the other.

Arnault, a French photographer, is married to Swedish Academy member and poet, Katarina Frostenson.

When the allegations surfaced, there was a bitter debate over Arnault’s behaviour — with seven of the academy’s 18 members either being forced to leave or quitting, including academy head Sara Danius.