Norwegian Billionaire Tom Hagen Arrested in Wife Anne-Elizabeth’s 2018 Cryptocurrency Kidnapping

A Norwegian billionaire whose 69-year-old wife was believed to have been kidnapped in 2018 is behind bars Tuesday for complicity in her alleged murder, Norwegian police said.

Real-estate tycoon Tom Hagen, 70, called authorities on Oct. 31, 2018, when he said he found a ransom note demanding $10 million in cryptocurrency Monero in the en suite bathroom he shared with his wife, Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen. The note, riddled with spelling mistakes, warned that Mrs. Hagen would be murdered if he called authorities, but he said he took the risk and he did so anyway.

The remote home the couple shared showed no signs of forced entry, but police at the time said there was considerable forensic evidence from what appeared to be a struggle in the couple’s bedroom. In 2019, they mused that perhaps Mrs. Hagen had been hiding there from kidnappers who found her alone in the home.