A newly released report on Icelandic tycoon Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson depicts a businessman that even other businessmen avoided, and whose public behavior was regarded as “disgusting” and arrogant.
At the top of his game, Björgólfur Thor was seen in Iceland as a prime example of the “outvasion Vikings”; young venture capitalists making money hand over fist across Europe and beyond. However, the risk management company Kroll – which compiled a research report on Björgólfur Thor for the American pharmaceutical company Barr in 2006 – showed another side to the man, DV reports.
In the report, his character is brought into question. Kroll presented one of Björgólfur Thor’s closest assistants, Constantine Conticas. While Constantine was regarded highly by Kroll, sources cited by the report expressed surprise that Constantine – who previously worked for Merill Lynch but was then hired to work for Novator, one of Björgólfur Thor’s ventures – would have anything to do with Björgólfur Thor, with one source wondering, “What the hell is he doing with that guy?”
Björgólfur Thor’s behaviour in terms of how he partied was described as “disgusting” without further elaboration. On one occasion, he was out with some friends in southern Europe, and paid a doorman several thousand euros to get into a nightclub. Björgólfur Thor was made to wait a few minutes, and he allegedly lost his temper, to which a Kroll source remarked, “This man thinks he can buy anything.”
A spokesperson for Björgólfur Thor says the report is based entirely on rumour and hearsay. However, this is not the first time Björgólfur Thor has been examined by Kroll. Last December, his investments in Russia were brought into question. Kroll concluded that it would have been impossible for his brewery in Russia, Bravo, to have gotten off the ground as quickly as it had without him participating in some corrupt and illegal dealings with Russian politicians at the time.
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