Edderkopsagen: Denmark's Biggest Criminal Case
About the book
The book covers Edderkopsagen, which in the 1970s was described as the biggest criminal case in Danish history. Per Strarup Søndergaard delivers a thorough account of the vast fraud case, in which a group of businessmen and their network systematically swindled banks, creditors and investors out of millions.
Edderkopsagen — "The Spider Case" — got its name from the complex web of companies, front men and financial transactions that made it extraordinarily difficult to unravel. Søndergaard guides the reader through the intricate financial manoeuvres and explains how the fraudsters operated through a network of shell companies and falsified documents.
The book describes the enormous effort undertaken by the police and prosecution to expose the fraud and identify those responsible. The case demanded an entirely new approach to financial crime in Denmark and led to changes in legislation.
Strarup Søndergaard manages to make complex material accessible to readers without a legal or financial background. The book is both a detailed piece of true crime and a portrait of Danish business life in the 1970s, a scandal that exposed cracks in the financial system and prompted tighter regulation.
