Lars Abild, Journalist, Økonomisk Ugebrev
Mar 11, 2025
The case of the multi-million dollar dispute between Jesper Kasi Nielsen and Pandora over an earnout of a three-digit million continues to develop: Several former and current senior employees at Pandora have been questioned by the Danish Fraud Investigations Police, also known as NSK, in the past month. The Chief Commercial Officer of the parent company Pandora is one of them.
The investigators are interested in the circumstances that Økonomisk Ugebrev has previously described. Namely, the suspicion that there were two parallel financial reports. The police are also investigating whether there may have been illegal price manipulation by withholding the “correct” accounting information, writes journalist Lars Abild.
NSK investigators have traveled abroad to interview former senior executives of Pandora. This is the first time that an authority has interrogated in the case and makes it much easier for the people involved to speak in the case and produce documents, according to Økonomisk Ugebrev.
The case of possible double-entry bookkeeping in Pandora is a central topic in the hearings. However, the investigation of the case has been severely hampered by extensive confidentiality clauses applying to all information about Kasi ApS' earnout and bonus payments to senior executives.
As a result, they have all been formally bound hand and foot about talking about the case. Already during the first arbitration, the judge has issued several fines for breaking the written confidentiality clauses.
Apparently, this has also been one of the reasons why the trustee of the bankruptcy estate of Kasi ApS, Boris Frederiksen, has recently hit a brick wall, despite information about new incriminating documents in the case. With the involvement of the police in the case, the parties' duty of confidentiality no longer applies, and this could seriously open up for further investigations.
The backstory is that when the Kasis sold their part of Pandora CWE - the European company - to Pandora, they received DKK 400 million here and now combined with an agreement for an earnout payment some years later based on the profits of the European subsidiary. The Kasis expected their extra earnout to be in the high triple-digit millions. But according to Pandora's calculator, it turned out to be a round zero. Roughly speaking, this is the crux of the dispute.
As previously described in Økonomisk Ugebrev, there is a big difference between internal Pandora documents when it comes to the size of the profit in the subsidiary Pandora CWE, which was to determine the earnout payment, and the signed accounts submitted by Pandora to CVR.
The internal document with Pandora's watermark, which was not included in the first arbitration case, shows a much larger profit than what appears in the official accounts.
Strong financial results
The NSK investigators are looking into whether bonuses were paid to senior executives based on the high internal results and are seeking documentation in the form of bonus agreements and payslips, according to several of Økonomisk Ugebrev's sources. This is precisely where Massimo Basei, Chief Commercial Officer of the main company Pandora, is interesting for NSK. Several sources confirm to Økonomisk Ugebrev that he has also been questioned.
When he was head of the Italian part of Pandora CWE, he helped create strong financial results. This is stated in an internal Pandora document supported by a Hyperion spreadsheet for Pandora CWE, which Økonomisk Ugebrev has come into possession of.
The Excel spreadsheet with thousands of numbers describes in detail the financial development of the European subsidiary. The internal document shows that in Italy - called CIRE - there was a turnover of 108 million euros in 2014 and a profit of 53 million euros - EBIDTA.
Økonomisk Ugebrev has obtained the bonus agreement between Pandora and Massimo Basei. It describes the model for bonus settlement but not the final result.
The question is also whether Pandora's management has suppressed the cost of the Kasian earnout payment from the sale of Pandora CWE to Pandora - in order to keep the share price artificially high. In other words, a form of illegal price manipulation or similar. A question that, according to information, also concerns NSK.
NSK states that they are investigating the case, and while this is taking place, they have no further comment.
On Tuesday, Økonomisk Ugebrev asked Pandora if they could confirm that Massimo Basei has been questioned by NSK and what he could possibly contribute to the questioning. Pandora has not responded.