Ivar Kreuger

Ivar Kreuger built a worldwide match monopoly by lending money to governments in exchange for exclusive match rights, financing it through a maze of holding companies. He was celebrated in the 1920s as a financial genius and his securities were widely held. His empire rested on fabricated profits, forged bonds, and hidden losses that unravelled in the Depression. In March 1932 he was found shot dead in Paris, generally recorded as suicide, and the collapse of his companies wiped out investors across Europe and America. The scandal helped drive tougher accounting and disclosure rules, feeding into the reforms behind the US Securities and Exchange Commission.