Meanwhile, in 2002, Jón Ásgeir acquired one of Iceland's two main newspapers, Fréttablaðið (via Gunnar Smari Egilsson), increasing his political influence.
At the height of his success, 'Jon Asgeir and his wife, Ingibjörg Pálmadottir—owner of the boutique hotel 101 in Reykjavik and daughter of a retail magnate—owned a 145-foot yacht ... and a seven-thousand-square-foot apartment, complete with bulletproof panic room, on Gramercy Park in New York'.
[13] In the analysis of Davíð's close associate Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson, At the end of September 2008, the bank Glitnir status became increasingly strained resulting in the government acquiring it by buying a 75% stake for 84 billion.
[15] According to The Report of the Investigation Commission of Althing into the 2008 crash, 'the company which was most extensively in business with the Icelandic banks was Baugur Group and related parties.
[17] Ímmediately after the crash, Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson and his companies alone owed more than a thousand billion ISK, between 70 and 80 per cent of the country's GDP'.
[18] Jón Ásgeir has also been charged by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in connection with his role in the financial crisis, but as of June 2017 he has been cleared two times in the same case.