Cybercity founder, Klaus Riskær Pedersen, is threatening to sue the Danish broadband company’s former owners for cheating him out of stock options he says were unfairly cancelled two years ago, when the management allegedly told him that the company was ‘worthless’. Cybercity is in the midst of a takeover by Norwegian telco Telenor and Pedersen has pointed to its price tag of DKK1.4 billion (EUR188 million) as proof that he and other ex-employees have been treated unfairly, claiming that the voided options would have earned a total of DKK50 million from the Telenor deal.
The possibility of civil court action is not the only trouble surrounding Cybercity, as Danish newspapers have reported that Pedersen himself is currently facing charges for attempted fraud on his transactions with the ISP’s shares. According to the reports he stands accused of taking illegal loans and using a front man in a deal involving two thirds of Cybercity’s share capital which changed hands in 1998/99. The controversial entrepreneur already has convictions for financial wrongdoings; he received a suspended prison sentence in 2000 for a DKK35 million fraud after the crash of his investment company, Accumulator Invest.