{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"Steinhoff International: The South African Retail Fraud Hidden for Decades","description":"A global company, a soaring stock price, and a balance sheet that seemed to defy gravity—yet all it took was a single crack for the illusion to collapse. What if the most trusted numbers in the room were the most dangerous?\r\n\r\nThis is the story of Steinhoff International, and how a retail giant hid a decades-long fraud in plain sight. Picture South Africa in the early two thousands, a nation rebuilding its economy and looking for corporate champions. Steinhoff International rose from the world of furniture trading, not from the glass towers of Johannesburg, but from warehouses and delivery trucks, where deals happened fast and margins were razor-thin. Retail was a tough business. But Steinhoff, led by Markus Jooste, seemed to have found a different formula—one that mixed relentless acquisitions with financial confidence and a taste for international complexity. Jooste, the man at the center, was known for his aggressive expansion style. He didn’t have to forge every number himself. He just needed a culture where the numbers always kept pace with the story.\r\n\r\nAurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 34 minutes, one complete story.\r\n\r\nLearn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/steinhoff-international","author_name":"The Archive Network"}