Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
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Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#2Why should Iceland bankers have gone to prison? For taking money from British depositors and investing it in the Spanish housing bubble? Let the British send their bankers to prison.
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#3Why should Iceland bankers have gone to prison? For taking money from British depositors and investing it in the Spanish housing bubble? Let the British send their bankers to prison.
Well, Fred the Shred had his "Sir" removed - which is pretty harsh by UK standards.
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#4There's a lot to read. Can someone explain the details of actual crimes for which they were convicted? The whole "finance crimes" always seem a little fuzzy. If you run up $70 billion in debt, for example, and need a bailout, is that a crime?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-29/puerto-ric...
It almost seems like a game.
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#5Here's a more direct post about various Iceland-related myths: https://studiotendra.com/2012/12/29/what-is-actually-going-o...
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#6There's a lot to read. Can someone explain the details of actual crimes for which they were convicted? The whole "finance crimes" always seem a little fuzzy. If you run up $70 billion in debt, for example, and need a bailout, is that a crime? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-29/puerto-ric... It almost seems like a game.
Market manipulation
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iceland-bankers-idUSKBN0LG...
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#7Just to clarify,
They were sent to prison for "market manipulation and fraud" which are crimes in many places, not just Iceland.
They weren't sent to prison for being "bad bankers" which isn't a crime in Iceland or anywhere else.
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#8Welcome to the United States, where bad bankers create catastrophic bubbles while leading the Federal Reserve then deny their responsibility later.
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#9Why should Iceland bankers have gone to prison? For taking money from British depositors and investing it in the Spanish housing bubble? Let the British send their bankers to prison.
FT covered the nature of the actual crimes in another article[1]. TD;DR -- Fraud to underwrite loans.
Interestingly, cult comic Doug Stanhope[0] has a pretty large European following and was invited by the former mayor of Reykjavik (also a comic) to essentially hang out. On a podcast, he recounts the tales of him and his long-term life-partner Bingo going to their jails[2]. It's quite a fascinating take as to how humane the jails are, and the liberties given to the convicts. (Sharp bread knives were held by the incarcerated to prepare dinner only tethered by a wire similar to the wires banks use to keep their pens from theft; Bingo said it felt "more like a college dorm than a prison".)
[0] Probably the most poignant alcoholic of our generation, offering insightful, often scathing, critiques on the failings of modern society, while vaguely masking his idealism in the levity of fist fuck jokes. After some sets, one is sat scratching your head - simultaneously sore from the physical pain of excessive laughter and mental pain as you're left ruminating on concepts Kierkegaard himself would categorize as 'angst' [1] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a79df88-1a62-11e5-a130-2e7db721f9... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0s8M6ZTmL8
Re: Iceland put top finance executives behind bars, but fears of cronyism remain
#10There's a lot to read. Can someone explain the details of actual crimes for which they were convicted? The whole "finance crimes" always seem a little fuzzy. If you run up $70 billion in debt, for example, and need a bailout, is that a crime? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-29/puerto-ric... It almost seems like a game.
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