Serial fraudster Christen Ager-Hanssen sentenced to 10 months in prison in UK for contempt and data theft

Scammer, fraudster, conman… Christen Ager-Hanssen can now add “fugitive prisoner” to her inglorious list. resume.

On May 25, Ager-Hanssen tweeted that he had appealed against a May 3 judgment by the Kings Bench Division of the United Kingdom's High Court. The judgment imposed a 10-month prison sentence on Ager-Hanssen for contempt of court. for “willful” violations of court orders related to Ager-Hanssen’s theft of property – both physical and intellectual – belonging to his former employer nChain. [Disclosure: CoinGeek’s owner is an nChain shareholder.]

Last week, Norway's leading business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) published an article entitled Christen Ager-Hanssen sentenced to ten months in prison. The article quoted an nChain spokesperson as saying the company was “pleased with the court's decision and will continue to use all legal means available to recover our intellectual property rights and stolen data, and hold Ager- Hanssen responsible for the damage he caused.

Ager-Hanssen was quoted in the same article showing courage, saying, “If I have to go to prison for this, I'm happy and proud.” » Ager-Hanssen may well regret these remarks, given that he also told DN that he complied with court orders to return the devices and data he took from nChain, and that he had also granted access to his personal email accounts to an independent expert to determine whether Ager-Hanssen fully complied with the orders.

However, the nChain camp claims that Ager-Hanssen outright lied to DN regarding his full compliance with court orders. In their view, Ager-Hanssen continues to block the delivery of data that nChain insists Ager-Hanssen had no right to take with him after his unceremonious dismissal from nChain on September 29, 2023 for be behaved “in a serious and inappropriate manner”.

Ager-Hanssen's ouster followed his attempted takeover of nChain via a failed boardroom coup, after which Ager-Hanssen fled the scene of the crime, taking equipment with him digital and documents that rightfully belonged to nChain.

nChain immediately filed a lawsuit demanding the return of its assets and requested an injunction prohibiting Ager-Hanssen from making public the contents of the confidential data he had stolen. The British courts ruled in favor of nChain in both cases, but Ager-Hanssen refused to comply with these orders.

As we will see, he also failed to fully cooperate with the legal proceedings, which contributed to his decision to make another trip, this time to his native Norway (where the local tax authority will consider almost certainly closer to their return). financial escapades of citizens).

I can't be bothered

Ager-Hanssen initially hired a law firm to represent him in British courts, then replaced that group with another before they too disappeared from the picture. Ager-Hanssen told the court he was hiring new lawyers but never got around to it, leading Judge Jacobs to conclude that, since October 27, 2023, Ager-Hanssen “has not participated in these procedures in a significant manner.

Before the hearing on January 19, 2024, Ager-Hanssen sent an email claiming that he was “not in a state of health” to participate, a claim that the court considered to be “effectively a request for adjournment”, which was rejected. Regardless of his true mental state, Ager-Hanssen did not participate in that January hearing, or in any subsequent proceedings.

Attempts to serve court orders against Ager-Hanssen in the UK led to him fleeing the UK for Norway. But Judge Jacobs said Ager-Hanssen “is undoubtedly aware of the original orders that were made” and Jacobs had “no doubt that [Ager-Hanssen] has been properly served by email in accordance with the relevant court orders.

Jacobs failed to find “any reason given for [Ager-Hanssen’s] failure to appear,” leading Jacobs to conclude that Ager-Hanssen had waived his right to appear.

Jacobs noted that Ager-Hanssen submitted a letter in January from a doctor claiming the defendant was suffering from “stress-related issues.” There is no doubt that the loss of his income has indeed caused many sleepless nights in Ager-Hanssen, wondering where his next meal ticket could be found.

But Jacobs ruled that Ager-Hanssen likely would have received “some treatment” since January. Furthermore, no further letters from the medical establishment have emerged suggesting that Ager-Hanssen is so mentally disorganized that he cannot read or come up with a calendar…any of them— the defense of his actions.

For these and other reasons, Jacobs concluded that Ager-Hanssen was in contempt of court. Jacobs concluded that “this is a case where an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate”. In reaching this conclusion, Jacobs cited the number of “deliberate” violations, the fact that these violations continue, and Jacobs' view that “from what I can see, there's really nothing that can be proposed as a mitigation measure. to explain, excuse or mitigate” Ager-Hanssen’s unprofessional conduct.

True to his fraudulent form, Ager-Hanssen tweeted on May 22 that he was “only now aware of the judgment through online resources”, while claiming that he “never had the opportunity to defend myself.” (By making claims that clearly contradict reality, Ager-Hanssen may be trying to support his argument of mental unfitness.)

Regardless, Ager-Hanssen has now appealed Jacobs' decision, which will require her to appear in person at a hearing in the UK. Given the unlikely chances of his appeal being successful, he will almost certainly be sent to prison at the conclusion of the hearing. With his personal freedom at stake, the world will soon know if Ager-Hanssen truly embodies the popular British expression “all mouth and no pants.”

Birds fly, fish swim, crooks prey

The DN article also referenced the website Ager-Hanssen Exposed, which has published a number of articles detailing the unflattering story of Ager-Hanssen's financial escapades, including coverage of the May 3 decision by Justice Jacobs of the United Kingdom.

This episode is the latest blow to Ager-Hanssen's carefully crafted image as a business master, mover and shaker. In reality, Ager-Hanssen never built a successful business on his own, choosing instead to attach himself, remora-style, to successful hosts and suck as if his life depended on it.

His typical modus operandi is to bully his way into companies, after which he (in the words of a Swedish lawyer) “creates hell… Eventually everyone gets so fed up with him and wants to throw him out.” He then offers to sell his shares at a very high price or buy others’ shares at a reduced price.”

Other times, Ager-Hanssen simply lies, such as during its failed attempt to acquire the software company OpenText. This scam involved attacking OpenText's stock price by fraudulently telling other companies that an Ager-Hanssen company owned their source code. This lie ended up costing Swedish pensioners millions when the public pension fund that financed Ager-Hanssen was left holding the bag.

Ager-Hanssen has experienced many other such “biggest fails” (non-exhaustive recaps can be found here and here), often resulting in company bankruptcy. Ager-Hanssen had already been declared personally insolvent and his assets sold at auction to settle unpaid tax bills.

Although many of its ignominious exploits date back a quarter of a century, more recent events have shown that this is one skunk that will never lose the identifying white stripe on its back.

Nothing is true about True Blue

Ager-Hanssen's predilection for distorting reality was on full display this spring in a report by British news outlet the Guardianwhich detailed Ager-Hanssen's speech to create a sketchy app targeting conservative party members.

Ager-Hanssen promoted his “True Blue” app to conservative leaders as a way to “increase donations” but also generate revenue by allowing companies to market products/services to conservative loyalists, the party receiving a share of the sales.

Addreax, Ager-Hanssen's “digital marketing” company (sounds so much nicer than “data harvesting”), would receive an equal share of these sales, which Ager-Hanssen estimates could exceed £160m sterling per year.

But Ager-Hanssen's presentation to the party suggested that Addreax already had partnerships with a host of megabrands, including Amazon, Apple and Coca-Cola. As expected, this came as news to businesses when they were contacted for confirmation by the Guardian.

A trace Guardian The report revealed that Ager-Hanssen secured her first meetings with Conservative leaders by donating £70,000 to the party, using funds belonging to nChain. As the Guardian It was noted that a donation of this size would have required approval from nChain's board and shareholders, something Ager-Hanssen did not even ask for, let alone obtain.

In the wake of GuardianAware that this latest scam had been constantly mentioned, Ager-Hanssen deleted “The Conservative Party” from his profile on X/Twitter. Oddly enough, he hasn't yet added the words “failed” and/or “incompetent” before the phrase “Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist”, but hey, the year is still young.

Ager-Hanssen's escape to Norway left him without the opportunity to improve his “successful businessman” cosplay by scouring Mayfair's private clubs in search of deep-pocketed individuals suffering from discord marital. The truth is that any dissatisfied husband or wife who accepts Ager-Hanssen's offer of help is already separated from reality.

Ager-Hanssen has a history of dodging responsibility for his actions, but dodging his problems in the UK will prove much more difficult. Especially since this cuts it off from the London network real influential players, forcing him to look closer to home for new brands he could snag. So if anyone in Norway sees this mischievous Artless Dodger coming, give them a wide berth… and keep a firm hand on your wallet.

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