Some have been discussing to what extent Stein Bagger is a shrewd swindler or a psychopath. Psychologist Renate Sommerst has stated that Bagger shows the classic signs of a psychopath. Jørn Beckmann, former Chief Psychologist at Odense University Hospital, now professor at N.Y.U. has pointed out characteristics and talents shared by Bagger, President Clinton, and President-elect Obama - such as social intelligence and extremely seductive communication skills - although he is quick to point out that Bagger's behaviour was clearly more criminal.
Bagger has also been erroneously referred to as "THE DANISH HELL'S ANGEL SWINDLER" - he was not a Hell's Angel - but he did have friends among the Hell's Angels and hired them act as his personal and corporate security guards.
Capitalism will always have criminals. Stein Bagger's leasing carousel is also a symptom of the financial bubble. We must not forget how the Banks and other Financial institutions participated and enabled this frenzy. A sad example is entertainer Finn Nørbygaard. He invested about $2 million dollars in JMI invest - which controlled Bagger's IT Factory. In 2006 the financial press claimed that Finn's original investment was worth $65 million dollars!!! His advisor at Dansk Bank convinced Finn to borrow about $20 million US - in swiss francs!!! - against his shares in IT Factory - and invest in a broad portfolio of stocks. Great move! Along comes the financial crisis - Finn's portfolio of stock looses @60% in value! Meanwhile his loan in swiss francs gets more expensive!!! Now his collateral - stock in Bagger's criminal enterprise - is worthless. Poor Finn: he got reemed by Bagger and his own bank!! The silver lining is Finn will now have to work for a living - which means he'll be entertaining the danish public with his firsthand experience of the bubble of 2008.
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