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Stein Bagger

Last week, Danish Computerworld awarded IT Factory, a provider of CRM, HRM and Business Intelligence add-on solutions based on a SaaS delivery model, with the prestigious “Denmark’s Best IT-company 2008″. This week, the company has been declared bankrupt and its managing director Stein Bagger went missing in Dubai while under scrutiny by the police and Interpol.

The remarkable story is all over the Danish press but has remained largely unnoticed outside of the country so far.

This is an amazing story of fraud within the Danish information technology sector and a system that did not react until it was too late but it is being noticed by international media too as its implications will reach global companies such as IBM, the below from MarketWatch :

Media Power USA, Inc.’s association with IT Factory is through the operation of its wholly owned subsidiary, eCommerce LLC (”eCommerce”). Richard Jenkins, Media Power USA, Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are surprised and disappointed to learn that IT Factory has ceased operations, as they were a ‘value added’ partner. We have already been in touch with the appointed liquidator to inquire about the situation. One of our primary objectives in dealing with the liquidators will be to assess the opportunity to purchase select assets and/or other intellectual property of IT Factory. The working relationship we had with IT Factory represents an extremely viable business model that we would like to continue aggressively pursuing.” In closing, Mr. Jenkins went on to state, “Most importantly, we want to ensure clients that we will continue to support the reselling of the IBM product suites through our eCommerce subsidiary.”

And CRN goes on to link the Danish company with an interesting mix of ‘names’ all involved somehow in this case :

What do Interpol, Dubai, Boston, the Hell’s Angels, IBM and Ernst & Young have in common? They’re all part of a bizarre story involving the CEO of a bankrupt Denmark-based solution provider who’s being sought for questioning on possible fraud and assault charges.

Stein Bagger, CEO of Copenhagen-based reseller IT Factory is being sought by Interpol in a potential $85 million fraud case after disappearing during a trip to Dubai.

This blog will continue to follow this bizarre case.

Investment News Danish business, Information Technology