No Bail Outs Here: Twenty-six Iceland bankers sentenced to a combined 74 years in prison

Bankers manipulated Icelandic financial markets leading to a financial collapse

Following investigations into the financial crisis in Iceland, 26 corrupt bankers have been sentenced to a combined 74 years in prison.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Each of the twenty-six bankers have received prison terms between two and five years following investigations connecting each to manipulations in the Icelandic financial markets following Iceland's deregulation of their finance sector in 2001. 

The illegal activity resulted in an accumulation of foreign debt that destroyed the banking sector in 2008.

Iceland Magazine reported:

"In two separate rulings last week, the Supreme Court of Iceland and the ReykjavĂ­k District Court sentenced three top managers of Landsbankinn and two top managers of KaupĂľing, along with one prominent investor, to prison for crimes committed in the lead-up to the financial collapse of 2008.

"With these rulings the number of bankers and financiers who have been sentenced to prison for crimes relating to the financial collapse has reached 26, and a combined prison time of 74 years."
The massive debts are still being repaid eight years later by Iceland taxpayers. Unlike America, Iceland decided to hold the bankers, who took advantage of their positions and manipulated the financial systems, responsible.

During the 2008 financial crisis, America chose to bail-out failing banks and corporations, many of which rewarded their CEOs with large bonuses, but Iceland did the opposite.

Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimmson said, "We were wise enough not to follow the traditional prevailing orthodoxies of the Western financial world in the last 30 years. We introduced currency controls, we let the banks fail, we provided support for the people and didn't introduce austerity measures like you're seeing in Europe."

Though American citizens were forced to accept their government's decision, Iceland has set a bar the United States should attempt to reach. As former Republican  U.S-President Ronald Reagan once said, "We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions."

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online