The saga of Stein Bagger, the disgraced ex-CEO of the defunct IT Factory, has finally come to a close as a Danish court found him guilty on 61 counts of fraud and the forgery of as much as one billion kroner. Bagger was sentenced to seven years in jail and ordered to return 50 million Danish kroner. He also must pay all the court costs and is forbidden to ever head a company again.
The judge presiding over the case, Soren Holm Feerup, delivered his sentence, saying: “This crime has been particularly extensive, well-planned and systematic in character. The sums involved and the losses have been major.”
The Politiken newspaper reports that Bagger pleaded guilty to all counts. This allowed the court to conclude the hearing in just two days, instead of the 100-plus days it usually takes to hear each of the dozens of counts in such a trial.
The 61 criminal charges against Bagger were all connected with a fraudulent leasing scheme that involved 972,109,545 Danish kroner. It is estimated that the financial institutions and banks involved with Bagger lose around 735 million Danish kroner.
Per Justesen, the prosecuting attorney, wanted Bagger to be handed a sentence of eight to 12 years. But Justesen also admitted Bagger’s full cooperation with prosecutors should be taken into account, and the judge agreed.
Now that’s what I call justice. When are the Icelandic scammers going to prison? Maybe never. Crime does pay then in the Icelandic case.