Ransacked (2016)

• 86%
• 2016

Ransacked is a film about the rise and fall of the Icelandic banking sector and how hedge funds who bet on the crash made billions of dollars in profits. It is also the story of how the global financial system destroyed the lives of one Icelandic family. Iceland's banking sector was deregulated and privatized in 2000-03. Within 5 years the banks were almost 12 times the nation's GDP with short term funding and risky assets. In September 2008 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and within days Iceland's banking sector collapsed. Hedge funds manage 3.2 trillion dollars with the top 25 hedge fund managers earning in 2013 on average almost 1 billion dollar each. For the last 10 years hedge fund have played a major role in the Icelandic economy by taking long and short positions and as owners of the failed banks. Ransacked is also about Thorsteinn Theodorsson who lost his business and almost lost his life. The loans were in foreign currencies and doubled or trebled during the crisis. With the help of his daughter Theodora Thorsteinsdottir who went to university to study Law and they took the Bank to Court. Who are the winners and who are the losers? What are the lessons from the financial crisis?