Icelandic businessman Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson has decided to step down from the board of British department store group House of Fraser after the Glitnir Bank winding-up committee filed a lawsuit against him and six other of the bank’s former owners and executives.
Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
It has been almost four years since Baugur Group acquired House of Fraser but after the conglomerate went bankrupt, Landsbanki has controlled the department store group. So, Jóhannesson no longer owned any part of the group, despite having a seat on its board, according to FT.com.
Jóhannesson’s lawyers in the UK accepted the lawsuit yesterday, as well as a demand to freeze his assets all over the world. The tycoon has to hand in a list of his assets to courts in the UK by 2 pm tomorrow, Fréttabladid reports.
In regard to the lawsuit, Jóhannesson and the other defendants have until June 12 to hand in their formal objections to the court in New York, otherwise the case will automatically be ruled in the favor of the claimants.
Jóhannesson and his associates are being accused of having “robbed the bank from the inside.” Nearly ISK 260 billion (USD 2 billion, EUR 1.6 billion) is being demanded in compensation.
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