Top Ten Bits:
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Repeated Legal Tactics to Cover Failures: Christen Ager-Hanssen has a pattern of using litigation to cover up his business failings, evident from his actions against nChain and previous companies.
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False Whistleblowing Claims: After being fired from nChain, Ager-Hanssen claimed he was dismissed for whistleblowing against the company's practices, a tactic he previously used to deflect from his failures.
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Financial Misrepresentation: Ager-Hanssen has a history of inflating his net worth and the value of his companies, as seen in his actions with Cognition, where he grossly inflated valuations to deceive investors and banks.
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Fraudulent Investment Tactics: He misled the Swedish Pension Fund to invest NOK 50 million in Cognition, claiming he founded NetSys, a proven lie, and later deceived other investors with inflated company valuations.
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Kompromat and Coercion: Ager-Hanssen allegedly used private investigators to dig up compromising information on journalists to suppress negative stories about him and his companies.
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Manipulative Legal Strategies: He reportedly collaborated with Knut Axel Ugland to fund litigation against investor Hakon Korsgaard, even when he had no money to pay his lawyers, further complicating and prolonging legal battles.
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Extortion and Witness Tampering: Ager-Hanssen was accused of extorting and tampering with witnesses, including threatening Jan Erik Tønnessen, Ugland’s finance director, outside his home at midnight.
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Undercover Recordings: He secretly recorded meetings with business partners like Ugland, which he then used to discredit them, employing similar tactics against nChain's boss Stefan Matthews.
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Deceptive Business Practices: Ager-Hanssen's modus operandi involved inflating company valuations using dubious methods, leading to significant financial discrepancies and legal disputes, as seen with Cognition and HSBC.
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Bank Fraud Allegations: There was an incident where Barclays allegedly deposited £15 million into his account by mistake, which he spent and later failed to repay, leading to prolonged legal actions and further financial turmoil.
In a saga reminiscent of a high-stakes thriller, Christen Ager-Hanssen's departure from nChain, a prominent crypto company, was anything but amicable. Claiming he was dismissed for whistleblowing on alleged malpractices by the company’s heavyweight shareholder, Calvin Ayre, Ager-Hanssen’s subsequent social media onslaught suggests a desperate bid to control the narrative. But those familiar with his career see this as just another chapter in his playbook of manipulation.
nChain is merely the latest stop in Ager-Hanssen’s tumultuous journey through the corporate world. His first venture, Cognition, set the stage for his controversial career in the early 2000s when it collapsed, leading him to lash out against partners and creditors alike.
Inspired by the successes of Swedish financier Jan Stenbeck, Ager-Hanssen embarked on a series of ambitious but ultimately flawed business endeavors beginning in 1997. His strategy involved acquiring stakes in promising companies, inflating their value, and then navigating through financial turmoil with litigation and threats rather than sound management.
The pattern was clear: Ager-Hanssen would procure investment under pretenses of grandeur, often fabricating his financial status. An article in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet once dubiously hailed him as richer than Norway's then-wealthiest individual, Kjell Inge Røkke—an assertion that serious financial journalists scoffed at. Investigations by Norwegian reporters Ingun Stray Spetalen and Gøran Skaalmo later debunked these claims, estimating his actual worth to be far less impressive.
His dealings with HSBC are particularly telling. Ager-Hanssen claimed his portfolio was worth a staggering £1 billion, a figure that no one has been able to verify as he refused to release supporting documentation to probing journalists. This alleged valuation was instrumental in securing substantial investments that were later called into question.
One such investor, Norwegian Hakon Korsgaard, was drawn by Ager-Hanssen's allure. Korsgaard agreed to a £25 million investment, contingent on a listing on the London Stock Exchange—a milestone that was continuously postponed by Ager-Hanssen. When a suspicious transfer of funds led to legal action from Barclays, Korsgaard realized the grim truth: the valuation was grossly inflated by Ager-Hanssen himself.
The litigation that ensued was fraught with allegations of fraud and deceit. Ager-Hanssen, often out of funds to pay his legal defenders, resorted to reporting Korsgaard to Økokrim, Norway's financial crime unit. Though Økokrim's investigation did uncover some irregularities, it predominantly served Ager-Hanssen's interests in muddying the waters around Korsgaard's financial activities.
In a twist worthy of a noir film, Ager-Hanssen was also accused of using covert recordings during negotiations—tactics he reputedly repeated in his later career, notably against Ugland, another former business partner. These recordings, once revealed, added layers of complexity and accusation to already contentious legal battles.
What emerges is a portrait of a businessman whose primary expertise seems to lie in the dark arts of corporate warfare. Ager-Hanssen’s history is a tapestry of ambitious ventures, questionable tactics, and litigious aftermaths. His story is a cautionary tale of a man who, in his relentless pursuit of wealth and status, often finds himself embroiled in legal and ethical quagmires. As this latest chapter at nChain closes, the crypto world watches on, wary of the next move in Christen Ager-Hanssen's checkered career.