Jim Latrache-Qvortrup

Jim Latrache-Qvortrup is "Mr James", the fake oil billionaire who signed a weapons contract with North Korean officials in Mads Brügger's documentary The Mole: Undercover in North Korea (DR/BBC, 2020). The film has been seen by more than 10 million people and shown in at least 26 countries, and much of it was filmed with a hidden camera. It holds an IMDb rating of 8.2 and won five awards: the Robert, TV Prisen, the Grierson, the One World Audience Award and Cinema for Peace. The Danish and Swedish foreign ministers took it to the UN sanctions committee.

The road to Pyongyang was anything but straight. Jim grew up in Holbæk, a dyslexic boy with ADHD, and was sent to a boarding school for children with behavioural problems at 12. There he secretly read the other children's files to find their weak spots. At 19 he joined the French Foreign Legion (1991–93) as a paratrooper in Corsica and Djibouti. Afterwards he sold cocaine to Copenhagen's jet set, which led to two prison sentences.

In 2007 he met Nicoline, the first person who saw him for him. After his next arrest, she set one condition: never prison again, and get an education. In his cell he was diagnosed with ADHD at 37, learned to read properly at 38, and earned his upper-secondary diploma with top grades. He then studied psychology at the University of Copenhagen, built a clinic chain with 14 staff, and spent four years as an undercover agent.

His memoir has been read or listened to by more than 50,000 people in Denmark and became a bestseller in Poland. He has been a guest on BBC World Service's Lives Less Ordinary, The Jordan Harbinger Show and 20+ podcasts, and has given more than 100 talks.