[11]" In 2014, Ager-Hanssen told Dagens Nyheter he had "rigged a hidden recording device" at his home during a meeting with HQ Bank chairman Christer Sandberg.

[15] Ager-Hanssen initially denied being behind the sting, and made threats towards Kyle Roche over the claim,[16] but confessed in a 2023 Norwegian interview.

[18] In April 2024, the Guardian published an article alleging Ager-Hanssen had worked with the UK's Conservative Party to develop an app to monetise the personal data of their members.

[20] Several politicians criticised Ager-Hanssen for donating £70,000 to the Conservative Party, which they claim unjustly afforded him private meetings with the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

[24] Shamalova claims she paid Ager-Hanssen's Custos Group company £600,000 for ‘Conflict Management and Litigation Strategy Advice’ and a further £500,000 to find a pay a legal team to represent her.

In the early 1980s, Ager-Hanssen was employed by different blue chip computer technology companies such as Burroughs, Digital Equipment Corporation and IBM.

He founded several internet startups together with Investment AB Kinnevik, including Netsys Technology Group, Webware and Polarsearch, one of the first search engines in Scandinavia.

[28] In March 2024, Ager-Hanssen became embroiled in a controversy involving social media influencers Matilda Djerf and Hanna Schönberg.

[31] The same day, nChain released a statement acknowledging that it had “parted company” with Ager-Hanssen and appointed Stefan Matthews as its new CEO.

[9] Justice Jacobs outlined the timeline of events leading up to the committal, detailing how Ager-Hanssen was ordered to surrender data he had taken from nChain's to an independent forensic examiner and disclose whom he had shared copies with.

In early 1998, Ager-Hanssen made a bid for NetSys Technology Group, including Webware and Polarsearch, together with the National Pension Fund of Sweden.

The bid was successful and ended up with Ager-Hanssen controlling 60% of the company through a newly established joint venture with the National Pension Fund of Sweden.

[2][36] In June 1998, Ager-Hanssen made a successful hostile cash bid on the publicly-traded company Verimation AB for SEK 120 million.

[2][5][6] He employed several high-profile individuals, such as Ulf Sundqvist,[6] former trade minister in Finland, and Gillian Nott, a former financial service authority director.

[6] Ager-Hanssen claims Cognition was valued by HSBC at the beginning of 2000 at approximately GBP 1 billion and planned for an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange.

During this same period, Ager-Hanssen was pursued by accountancy firm Robson Rhodes for allegedly not paying Cognition staff salaries for several months.

Ager-Hanssen told Dagens Media that Metro would relaunch as a platform for people to pay to publish opinion and debate posts.

[51] Christen Ager-Hanssen, a Norwegian businessman and owner of the investment company Custos, became significantly involved with Johnston Press, a British newspaper group, in the mid-2010s.

His interaction with Johnston Press was characterised by a series of strategic moves, public disputes, and legal actions, reflecting his intention to reshape the company's leadership and operational direction.

[52][53] Ager-Hanssen's involvement with Johnston Press began in 2017 when, through Custos, he acquired a significant strategic stake in the company, making him one of its largest shareholders.

[54][55] In October 2017, Ager-Hanssen publicly announced his intention to overhaul Johnston Press's board, nominating Alex Salmond, former First Minister of Scotland, as the company's potential chairman.

[56] Ager-Hanssen's strategy was predicated on radically changing Johnston Press's business model, focusing on the digital media and leveraging the company's audience to help kickstart new ventures.

[57] Ager-Hanssen's plans were initially hampered by a 'dead hand proxy', a controversial corporate defense mechanism that required an immediate repayment of Johnston Press's debt if the control of the board were to change.

They changed the board and raised SEK 272 million after securing a majority stake and voting control in FlyMe to fuel the company's international expansion and to position it for consolidation in the airline industry.

[68][71][72] Ager-Hanssen and Haraldsson continued the consolidation discussion with Smárason and the FL Group's majority owner Baugur represented by Icelandic billionaire Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson.

It is hoped that they will arrive today, but this is not known.”[82] Cognition had not raised the capital required and the board refused to sign off the end of year report, leaving no choice but to put the company into bankruptcy.

Ager-Hanssen and Porter continued to invest in the leisure industry and acquired a strategic stake in Ticket, one of the leading Scandinavian travel agencies and publicly listed company, and changed their board through a hostile takeover.

In 2006 Nordic Oil signed a deal with the Hinduja Group to re-establish the Gulf brand to the Scandinavian market and planned to rebrand all of its gas stations.

[93] In July 2007, Johnsen and auditor Sven Erga resigned, along with half of the board after the company was served with a compulsory dissolution notice.

[95] Ager-Hanssen works with blue chip executives, politicians, and billionaires such as John Robert Porter, who had made a fortune from Demon, Britain's first internet provider as well as from his divestment of Verifone to Hewlett Packard in 1997.