“The Cryptoman” – No new interrogations:

He is described as calm and modest. A creative soul, who cares and is committed to the society that surrounds him. Be passionate about one thing and then another.

But mostly they describe him as friendly.

It was therefore a great shock to those who knew and know him that the 32-year-old from Romerike was arrested by the police on May 7 and finally charged with the kidnapping of Anne-Elisabeth Hagen.

The “crypto man” wanted investments from Hagen

In the press, the Romerike man is now called the “crypto man.” The 32-year-old is linked by the police to murder suspect Tom Hagen (70), although the relationship between them is not mentioned as close. According to his defender Dag Svensson, the “cryptoman” himself is totally incomprehensible for the accusations against him.

Dagbladet has been in contact with several friends and acquaintances of the 32-year-old. Few will make statements in the media, but those who speak describe him as a good person who does not like to be in the spotlight.

I went to a prestigious school

The man grew up in Romerike and his peers say he didn’t make much of himself.

– He was perceived as friendly and quite calm, says one of them to Dagbladet.

The 32-year-old has studied at a prestigious school in Oslo. He was associated with the campus for a long period, but should never have completed the entire course of study.

A former classmate describes him as a nice guy who stayed a bit on the back burner.

– He was in and out for several years, but then suddenly he was gone. It makes sense that he was doing other things on the site, but I didn’t know he was that interested in cryptocurrencies, says the former fellow student, who describes his arrest as a “shock.”

Publication of “The Cryptoman”: – Nothing to hide

Defender Dag Svensson tells Dagbladet that there has been no questioning with his client since July.

– There have been a total of four interrogations, I want to recall, he says.

– stressful

The 32-year-old was first charged with murder or complicity in the murder, but the charge was changed to aggravated kidnapping after questioning. At the same time, the first charge was never dropped.

– He is accused of both. So he has more charges than Hagen. But police have stated that the murder charge is not relevant and exists only as a formality, explains the defender.

The abductee was never presented for custody and has always been a free man.

Unlike Tom Hagen and his three sons, he is sure to speak to the police and wonders if he is desirable.

– He says he has nothing to do with this. He struggles with this, it goes without saying. It’s not nice and it’s a big burden, says Svensson.

Dagbladet knows that the police were particularly interested in all of the man’s electronic devices and, based on the charge, he has been given permission to seize computers, mobile phones and other devices. The charge also gives police access to the man’s accounts on social media and elsewhere on the internet.

Dagbladet knows that the Hagen family has doubts that the man accused of kidnapping had anything to do with Anne-Elisabeth Hagen’s disappearance.

Krypto-interesse

As Dagbladet has previously revealed, the 32-year-old contacted one of Tom Hagen’s companies, Tom Hagen Eiendom AS, and asked for a meeting to propose a business idea dealing with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The “crypto man” is said to have imagined that Tom Hagen Eiendom AS could invest in mining the cryptocurrency.

The meetings, where two of them were of a formal nature, took place in late 2017 and early 2018.

The man also had contact with various cryptocurrency experts, according to NRK. In one of the text messages to which the channel has been given access, the man writes that he himself does not have enough knowledge of cryptocurrencies, and that is why he contacts these experts.

The “cryptoman” believes that Hagen understood little

Even in the time after Anne-Elisabeth disappeared without a trace, the man accused of kidnapping showed great interest in cryptocurrencies. Among other things, he has commented on posts on a Facebook page on the subject, but is far from being the most active on the page.

In February 2019, in a comment field on tracking Bitcoin, he wrote, among other things: ‘if there is no way of control, criminals will also be completely free to do exactly what they want … easier to kidnap people because they require untraceable cryptography. “

The defender “Kryptomannens”: – Nonsense

Questioned as a witness

Police believe the man possesses computer skills and knowledge of cryptocurrency. This is important to the police because the NOK 90 million ransom demand was made in the cryptocurrency Monero.

The 32-year-old man was first questioned as a witness in the case. Here he outlined Hagen’s understanding of cryptocurrency and how it works, as at a low level, Dagbladet is informed.

On questioning, he is said to have expressed that Hagen had little understanding of technology. Tom Hagen’s defender, Svein Holden, has also described his client’s data skills as very limited.

Dagbladet has sent a series of questions about the crypto man’s alleged role in the Hagen case to the Eastern Police District, responding to the following in an email:

“The charge remains until it is finally dropped by a higher tax authority. For the sake of the investigation, we have no comment on the other questions.”