Steinhoff International

Steinhoff's 2017 implosion ranks among the largest accounting frauds in history - €10 billion in fabricated profits over a decade. The South African retail giant operated like a colonial organism, acquiring companies across 30 countries while obscuring losses through related-party transactions. CEO Markus Jooste built an empire of 130,000 employees on fictional foundations. When whistleblowers finally penetrated the corporate opacity, the stock lost 90% in two days. Steinhoff demonstrated that geographic diversification provides no protection against centralized fraud - it merely makes detection harder.