IT fugitive Stein Bagger will be sent back to Denmark

09.12.2008
Stein Bagger, the Danish IT executive who turned himself in to Los Angeles police on Saturday and confessed to being wanted by Interpol, is being held by U.S. immigration officials and will be sent back to Denmark to face charges.

"He has been very cooperative; he indicated that he wanted to go back to Denmark and face his accusers," a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Monday.

Bagger has not been charged with a crime in the U.S., she said. However, he entered the country under the U.S. visa waiver program, and since he admitted to being wanted for a crime he is not eligible to stay under that program.

"There are no criminal charges facing him in this country. Our desire is to use our administrative authority to return him to Denmark to face justice, and he has told us that is his desire as well," the spokeswoman said.

Bagger, the CEO of Danish software and services company IT Factory, has been wanted by Interpol on conspiracy and fraud charges ever since he disappeared late last month while on vacation with his wife and daughter in the United Arab Emirates.

On Saturday morning he walked into a police station in downtown Los Angeles and gave himself up. He told police he had arrived in New York the week before, borrowed a friend's sports car and credit card, and driven across the country, the Los Angeles Times reported. It's unclear what he did along the way or why he came to the U.S.