Slashdot Mirror

revealing billions in insider loans,

Like most wikileaks documents, I've found it nearly impossible to verify the high level claim (insider trading) off the information provided. They always seem to drop the ball on writing down their analysis...or letting others (otherwise, it's NOT a wiki!). I expect several pages of summary and analysis, but instead, just broad claims with little or no references or supporting facts.

For those of us who aren't experts in Icelandic corporations and banking, here's a sample, after some googling- one of the listed parties is a Robert Tchenguiz.

If the claims in that blog posting are true, 500BN of Iceland's citizens' money flew out the door in "loans" to tax haven countries.

I wish public keys were in use in BIs already. Then they could use something like Ring signatures to provide some degree of authenticity for some (little) degree of anomization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_signature

... WikiLeaks, revealing billions in insider loans, and ...

Wikileaks says:

Not long after producing this internal report, the ...

The slashdot summary is making unproven claims, with the only source cited the WikiLeaks article. I think we'll see a correction of this article summary at some time. The Iceland Weather Report article doesn't mention insider trading either.

But wait, there's more! According to my favorite Icelandic blogger, the commissioner who issued the injunction has a son who is or was a spokesman for the bank, and another who was an executive and the recipient of one of the no-payments loans.

Iceland is a close-knit society. The anger there is fueled by a sense of betrayal that people from big heterogeneous countries can't fully appreciate.

revealing billions in insider loans,

Like most wikileaks documents, I've found it nearly impossible to verify the high level claim (insider trading) off the information provided. They always seem to drop the ball on writing down their analysis...or letting others (otherwise, it's NOT a wiki!). I expect several pages of summary and analysis, but instead, just broad claims with little or no references or supporting facts.

For those of us who aren't experts in Icelandic corporations and banking, here's a sample, after some googling- one of the listed parties is a Robert Tchenguiz.

If the claims in that blog posting are true, 500BN of Iceland's citizens' money flew out the door in "loans" to tax haven countries.

Alcoa denies it
An Icelander responds
The same Icelander talks about what the "hidden folk" mean to Icelanders

Alcoa denies it
An Icelander responds
The same Icelander talks about what the "hidden folk" mean to Icelanders

Urgh. No, that's not TRUE - what was done was the following: the site was checked for artifacts of cultural significance and all that. For example, from an article in New York Magazine:

As for Alcoa, their rep believes Lewis is likely referring to a law regarding environmental-impact assessments. The assessment includes an archaeological survey to ensure no important artifacts or ruins are destroyed, and the site's history is also surveyed to see if it was ever named in any Icelandic folklore. And yes, some of that folklore involves elves.

Alda Sigmundsdóttir has some more background in these two entries in her blog, too, for those interested.

Urgh. No, that's not TRUE - what was done was the following: the site was checked for artifacts of cultural significance and all that. For example, from an article in New York Magazine:

As for Alcoa, their rep believes Lewis is likely referring to a law regarding environmental-impact assessments. The assessment includes an archaeological survey to ensure no important artifacts or ruins are destroyed, and the site's history is also surveyed to see if it was ever named in any Icelandic folklore. And yes, some of that folklore involves elves.

Alda Sigmundsdóttir has some more background in these two entries in her blog, too, for those interested.