Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson is in hot water. It has come to light that he registered on the infamous Ashley Madison cheating site as IceHot1 in 2008, according to Vísir. The website was recently attacked by hackers, revealing sensitive information about 37 million users showing interest in cheating on their spouses, 128 of them from Iceland, as reported by Iceland Review.
Bjarni’s wife, Þóra Margrét Baldvinsdóttir, posted a statement on her Facebook page today, declaring that she and her husband registered on the website out of curiosity after hearing about Ashley Madison in 2008. She explains that in order to take a look at the website, you “had to fill out a special form, register an email, a foreign zip code and more.” “We have never since signed onto the website. There was no payment issued for registration or access to the site. This visit has not led to communication with anyone, not to mention a breach of trust of any kind.”
Stundin provides more detailed information regarding the minister’s account. According to its information, access to the website was created September 13, 2008, while Bjarni served as member of parliament for the Independence Party. Stundin has information showing that access to the account was updated October 21, 2011, and again on January 25, 2013. That information is contrary to Bjarni’s wife’s assertion that the account was accessed only once. The address provided is in Bradenton, Florida, where Bjarni’s father used to own a house.
Update:
Stundin has provided an update of its earlier report: “There is every indication that updates to Bjarni’s account in 2013 and 2011 were part of automatic updates on the website. The last activity of Bjarni’s access took place about a month after his account was created, that is, in October, 2008.”
