Christen Ager-Hanssen notches third bankruptcy in as many countries

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Chaos agent Christen Ager-Hanssen has been declared bankrupt in his homeland of Norway, the third country to poke holes in the self-proclaimed billionaire’s fantastical claims of entrepreneurial success.

Late last month, the District Court in the Norwegian city of Stavanger issued a bankruptcy judgment against Ager-Hanssen based on his unwillingness/inability to pay debts stemming from a judgment issued against him in the U.K. Ager-Hanssen has appealed the Stavanger ruling, even as he fled Norway for Sweden, after previously fleeing the U.K. for Stavanger as his English legal difficulties mounted.

Ager-Hanssen’s resemblance to the titular character in the Where’s (Bankrupt) Waldo books accelerated following his failed 2023 boardroom coup of enterprise blockchain technology research firm nChain Holding AG. [Disclosure: CoinGeek’s owner is an nChain shareholder.]

In the wake of Ager-Hanssen’s abrupt dismissal in September 2023, nChain accused its former CEO of stealing company-owned computer equipment and the proprietary data it contained. nChain said Ager-Hanssen acted in “a serious and inappropriate manner,” including not only his failed coup attempt but also his attempt to use £70,000 in company cash to ingratiate himself with U.K. Conservative party bigwigs, whose support he was trying to enlist for a personal project.

When Ager-Hanssen refused to comply with court orders to return nChain’s physical and intellectual property, the U.K. High Court of Justice’s Kings Bench Division ordered Ager-Hanssen imprisoned for 10 months for his “deliberate” breaches of the orders.

Ager-Hanssen swiftly fled the U.K. to Norway and declined to take part in remote court proceedings, leading the High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts of England and Wales to approve the bankruptcy petition nChain sought. Ager-Hanssen has yet to pay the financial damages the courts ruled he owes nChain, apparently convinced that, so long as he didn’t set foot on U.K soil, he was in the clear.

Sorry, but no. nChain pursued the fugitive Ager-Hanssen to Stavanger, where it filed a petition to compel its former CEO to pay his NOK10.5 million (£760,000) debt. But instead of mounting a defense, Ager-Hanssen did yet another runner. Upon arrival at an undisclosed address in Sweden, Ager-Hanssen filed a typically verbose (128-page) and self-pitying brief with the Stavanger court declaring (as usual) his complete innocence.

The faux-billionaire fugitive told Norwegian media outlet Dagens näringsliv that he dare not expose his whereabouts because he lives “under threat and surveillance.” But it’s telling that Ager-Hanssen appears unwilling to declare his innocence in person, preferring long-winded written monologues to judges’ probing questions.

Earlier this year, Norwegian authorities raided Ager-Hanssen’s Stavanger residence and seized the digital devices that Ager-Hanssen previously refused to surrender. Given the tangled web he’s woven throughout his business history, any personal data on these devices could open up multiple new avenues of legal displeasure for The Man Who Would Be Bling.

Sweden might not prove a safe haven for Ager-Hanssen for long, as his recent antics there have led to still more legal difficulty. In March, Ager-Hanssen was accused of having “committed a crime by using various means” to ‘persuade’ (aka blackmail) Erik Selin, chairman of Sweden’s Norion Bank. Ager-Hanssen was reportedly trying to convince Norion to void a SEK52.5 million (£4 million) legal judgment it won against bankrupt real estate developer Oscar Engelbert.

Engelbert’s property was seized last July when he couldn’t repay his debts to Norion. Englebert then enlisted the help of Ager-Hanssen, who has a well-documented history of setting up meetings with senior executives to surreptitiously record them saying things Ager-Hanssen believes will help the people paying him.

The complaint against Ager-Hanssen/Engelbert alleged that the pair set up a meeting with Norion execs to convince the bank to back off its pursuit of Engelbert. Norion subsequently filed a lawsuit against both Engelbert and Ager-Hanssen, alleging an extortion attempt was made during Ager-Hanssen’s February 21 visit to Norion’s Stockholm office.

As proof that Ager-Hanssen’s antics are wearing thin, Expressen reported that the bank “secretly recorded at least one” of Ager-Hanssen’s visits and that the recording had been submitted to local police as evidence. By using Ager-Hanssen’s own methods against him, Norion may have blunted any Ager-Hanssen effort to selectively edit the contents of his own recording to support his preferred narrative of events.

After Norion/Selin filed their extortion/defamation suit, Engelbert protested that the bankers had “completely misunderstood the meeting.” The developer then countersued the bank for SEK200 million. However, Engelbert’s suit was dismissed at the end of March because he neglected to pay the SEK2,800 (£218) application fee, even after the court warned him to ante up or it would reject the suit. (Perhaps Englebert completely misunderstood the memo.)

Or maybe, like Ager-Hanssen, he simply can’t afford to spend even small amounts on lawsuits he knows he has no chance of winning, so getting the media to publicize the suit was the whole point of this charade?

It was later reported that, during Ager-Hanssen’s meeting with the Norion execs, he claimed that if they didn’t play ball, he would personally finance Engelbert’s lawsuit against Norion. Just not if it cost more than a couple hundred pounds, apparently.

Ich bin ein deadbeat

Since purchasing his one-way ticket to whatever the Swedish equivalent of Palookaville might be, Ager-Hanssen has suspended his usual ‘all mouth and no trousers’ public posture, for once choosing discretion over disinformation.

The Norion/Selin extortion suit against him and Engelbert was dropped, suggesting that Ager-Hanssen was careful enough to have tiptoed right up to the line of impropriety without tripping over it. But that doesn’t erase his geographically widening bankruptcy status.

Where might Ager-Hanssen be declared bankrupt next? Given his preference for European markets, we thought we’d offer a list of ways he could explain his financial situation in other countries where/when he finds himself on the wrong end of a balance sheet.

FINLAND

Voitko ostaa minulle juotavaa? Olen konkurssissa.

(“Can you buy me a drink? I’m bankrupt.”)

DENMARK

Jeg betaler dig gerne Tirsdag for en hamburger i dag.

(“I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”)

FRANCE

Puis-je avoir ton numéro ? Et peut-être un téléphone pour t’appeler?

(“Can I get your number? And perhaps a phone so I can call you?”)

GERMANY

Bei dir oder bei mir? Eigentlich muss es bei dir sein, denn ich wohne in meinem auto.

(“Your place or mine? Actually, it has to be your place because I live in my car.”)

BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA

Ako ovdje budem proglašen bankrotiranim, da li se to računa dva puta? (Bosnian)

Ako me ovdje proglase bankrotom, računa li se to dvaput? (Croatian)

(“If I’m declared bankrupt here, does that count twice?”)

And just in case Ager-Hanssen ever concludes that the U.S. of A is simply gagging for more downmarket Eurotrash…

AMERICA

“Spare change?”

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