Four Bankers in Iceland Sentenced to Jail for the FRAUD they committed. Including the Chairman of the Bank.

If this would happen all over the world, we would be in much better shape!

Iceland's court sentenced four bankers to jail, including the Chairman of Kaupthing Bank. 

Obviously Iceland's courts are not as corrupt as the rest of the world's courts.  The U.S. has never considered jailing Corzine (MF Global), besides all the other top Wall Street bankers.  But the fact that Iceland has jailed bankers, shows all is not lost.  It is up to all of us to continue trying to get people to wake up.    

Article:

In a landmark ruling, Reykjavík District Court sentenced four former executives of Kaupthing Bank to between 3 and 5 1/2 years in prison for financial crimes dating back to 2008.

Vísir reports that former Kaupthing director Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson received the heaviest sentence: five and a half years, minus time already spent in custody. He was also sentenced to pay 33.4 million ISK in legal fees.

Former Kaupthing chairperson - and former Interpol fugitive - Sigurður Einarsson was sentenced to five years, and a total of 14.3 million ISK in legal fees.

Investor Ólafur Ólafsson was sentenced to three and a half years, and 20.6 million ISK in legal fees.

Former director of the Luxemborg branch of Kaupthing Magnús Guðmundsson was sentenced to three years in prison.

In the court's opinion, the four conspired to conceal the fact that one of the investors in Kaupthing, Mohammad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, owned his 5.01% stake in the bank thanks to money lent to him by the bank itself.

Investigations into the four go back to the Icelandic bank crash of autumn 2008. In the wake of a report on the contributing causes of the crash from the Special Investigative Commission, the Special Prosecutor’s Office was created. The office targeted many top bank officials from Glitnir and Kaupthing.

Eva Joly, who at one point served as an assistant to the Special Prosecutor, told the Grapevine last year that Iceland should "be proud you invested in these investigations", while cautioning to have patience - investigations were three years along at the time.

The four are expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. All of their prison sentences are non-probationary.

Iceland kicked OUT the FBI when they arrived to investigate Wikileaks! AWESOME!

Now this is one of those events where you jump up and say "F YEAH!"   

When the  Minister of the Interior of Iceland found out that FBI had arrived in a private jet at the airport to investigate Wikileaks.  He got right on it and kicked them OUT of the Country of Iceland!  He said they were not welcomed in Iceland and made them leave!
(This happened in 2011 but the information about it is just being released today)

From article:

A group of FBI agents arrived in Iceland in August 2011, requesting collaboration with Icelandic police authorities to investigate Wikileaks, as revealed by Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson on RÚV’s news magazine Kastljós last night.

“The FBI came here in a private jet and landed at Reykjavík Airport. According to my information—which is very solid and I have had it confirmed—Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónasson was notified of their arrival and reacted angrily because it is unbelievably presumptuous to come here this way,” Kristinn stated.“According to my information, he demanded that these agents pack their bags, embark the plane and leave the country,” Kristinn added. “I know that this was later discussed within the government, which formally objected to U.S. authorities.”

Ögmundur confirmed Kristinn’s statement to RÚV, saying a group of foreign agents came to the country in August 2011, requesting assistance to investigate a certain affair. Their request was rejected as it is unnatural for foreign police forces to carry out investigations in Iceland, the minister reasoned.

Here is another article with the same information.

I would love to live in Iceland if it wasn't always so cold!  What a great country.  I have written about them previously and how they convicted the bankers for the collapse.

Supreme Court of Iceland convicts Two Bankers for the Collapse. Another banker yet to be put on Trial.

Don't cha just Love Iceland!  If only Greece, Spain and the other European countries would take Iceland's lead and put the Bankers on trial and tell the ECB to "F off" like Iceland did. 

The Supreme Court of Iceland convicted two bankers this week with regards to the collapse of Iceland. 

From article:

Managers of Byr Savings Bank Guilty in Exeter Case

The Supreme Court of Iceland convicted former CEO of Byr savings bank Ragnar Z. Guðjónsson and former chairman of the bank’s board Jón Þorsteinn Jónsson for breach of trust in the so-called Exeter case yesterday—thereby reversing an earlier verdict of Reykjavík District Court—and gave both of them a four-and-a-half year non-suspended prison sentence.

These are the longest sentences that have ever been announced because of economic crimes in Iceland, Fréttablaðið reports.
The case of the third defendant, former CEO of MP Bank Styrmir Þór Bragason, was referred back to the district court.
This is the second verdict announced by the Supreme Court in cases filed by the Special Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the 2008 banking collapse.
The first verdict was announced over former undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Baldur Guðlaugsson, who was sentenced to two years in prison for insider trading.
In both cases the prosecutor’s demands of maximum punishment were agreed to.
The Exeter case involves a more than ISK 1 billion (USD 7.7 million, EUR 6.2 million) loan that Byr granted to Exeter Holding during the banking collapse to buy founders’ capital shares in Byr from select parties, including Jón Þorsteinn and a company owned by Ragnar and MP Bank.
Thus, the total risk of the collapsing value of the founders’ capital shares was shifted to Byr. Ragnar and Jón Þorsteinn are said to have decided to grant the loan to Exeter Holding in violation of the savings bank’s regulations.
Reykjavík District Court had determined that Ragnar had been authorized to violate the regulations and didn’t consider it proven that his intention had been to cause Byr financial damage.
One district court judge submitted a dissenting opinion, concluding that both Jón Þorsteinn and Ragnar should be convicted but Styrmir acquitted. Styrmir was charged with having been party to the others’ violations in addition to money laundering.
Because the district court didn’t take a position on Styrmir’s part in the violations, the Supreme Court decided to refer his case back to Reykjavík District Court.
Prosecutor Björn Þorvaldsson said he had expected the district court’s verdict to be reversed. “It is a very clear and concise verdict and it will likely affect other cases involving similar loans.”
Click here to read more about the Exeter case and here to read about a similar case that is ongoing.

ESA

One case linked at the bottom goes to this article about insider trading, in that a banker knew what was coming and sold off his shares months before the collapse:

From Article:

A charge was filed on suspicion of internal trade at Glitnir Bank at Reykjanes District Court on Monday. It is the second case of this kind taken to court by the Special Prosecutor’s Office since the banking collapse in 2008.

According to the charge, Friðfinnur Ragnar Sigurðsson, a former middle-manager at Glitnir, sold his shares in the bank for almost ISK 20.2 million (USD 156,000, EUR 125,000) in March, April and September 2008, in all cases while having access to insider information on the bank’s poor liquidity position, Fréttablaðið reports.
Friðfinnur is said to have had access to the information through his position at the bank, which he mainly obtained through a number of emails from his coworkers where the bank’s liquidity position was discussed.
Friðfinnur maintained his innocence before the court.

The other internal trading case launched by the Special Prosecutor ended with conviction of former undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Baldur Guðlaugsson, in February. He has now appealed his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Now - All other countries should be putting the Bankers On Trial for all the Fraud they are committing upon the people of the world.  But I won't hold my breath because the bankers actually rule all the governments of the world, except for Iceland.

Iceland Forgives Mortgage Debt for the Population. Putting Bankers and Politicians on "Bench of Accused"

This is awesome. It shows when the people DO STAND UP they have more power and win against the corrupt bankers and politicians of a country. Iceland is forgiving and erasing the mortgage debt of the population. They are putting the bankers and politicians on the "Bench of the Accused." Which means I assume they are putting them on trial for corruption.

Now the rest of people of the world need to start doing the same thing. We all need to stand up and against all the corruption and fraud of the banks and politicians that are puppets of the banks and corporations.

**Edit to add 4/14/12***

It seems this may not be true, due to people from Iceland saying it is not true. El Mundo news is the originator of the information from the video above. Since they are a news organization and they broadcasted this, I had assumed it to be true. Also since the Icelandic people have been standing up against the tyranny of the banks and corrupt politicians for the last 3 years, it was not beyond me to think it was not true. I have looked on Iceland news sites and have not found mention of it.  I did not put this out for "fake news" I had believed the broadcast.  So, if it is wrong I am sorry for putting out misinformation, as that is not what I do.  I will always try and put out only real truth and real news.

Iceland's Former Prime Minster Geir H. Haarde, Indicted for Economic Mismanagement during Financial Crisis! First Political Leader to be Indicted for Such a Thing!

WOW - Iceland's Former Prime Minster Geir H. Haarde, Indicted for Economic Mismanagement during Financial Crisis! First Political Leader to be Indicted for Such a Thing!

This is Huge, IMO!

A Political Leader of a Country is being INDICTED for Economic Mismanagement!  I commend the Parliament of Iceland for doing this!

Now I wonder how many other Political Leaders will have the same thing done to them?  But, I won't hold my breath, Iceland was the First country to go down.  They did so on Oct. 7th 2008. 

It sure is nice one country is holding their political leader accountable for the financial mess it is in.  Now, if we could just do the same thing with Bernanke, Greenspan and the Whole U.S. elected officials for doing the same to the U.S.!