Adore Beauty's founders cashed out $90M at a $653M float - then shares fell 90%
The online beauty retailer was valued like a tech company at the e-commerce peak; by late 2023 its market cap had fallen more than $500M to a 71c low.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDZenRock's same invoice financed twice — $175M of doubtful bank debt surfaced
Judicial managers found 200+ duplicate-invoice financings and $1.6B of receivables that shrank to $136M overnight at the oil trader.
Read the caseYorkshire Water's £1.5m Ripon sewage scheme delivered 43% of the promised cut
The Ripon scheme was sold as cutting storm overflows into the River Ure by 75%; the company now admits discharges fell only about 43%.
Read the caseOCBC put the Lim family's Xihe Holdings under judicial management over $208M transfer
The bank said it 'strongly distrusts' Xihe's management after $208.1M went to Hin Leong 'for no valid commercial purpose' amid a billion-dollar insolvency.
Read the caseWOM Chile missed its 5G deadlines — the state started cashing its guarantees
Four years into its 5G licence the operator had covered 58% of promised localities; regulators weighed cancelling the concessions outright.
Read the caseThumb drive inventor Henn Tan jailed for inflating Trek 2000's books
The Trek 2000 founder pleaded guilty to falsifying accounts — by 2015 licensing income was inflated 666%, propped by a forged bank document.
Read the caseTransclean took $1.3M a month for COVID train cleaning it did not do
IBAC heard intercepted calls admitting trains went unsprayed while an official covered up for three years; V/Line sacked its CEO and killed the contract.
Read the caseToshiba hid Westinghouse's losses even while under probe for accounting fraud
Nikkei Business exposed $926M and ~$400M of Westinghouse impairments Toshiba never disclosed — a second cover-up on top of the ¥151.8B overstatement.
Read the caseTISG's books showed €90M of cash; the bank account held €2M
The Italian Sea Group's founder quit the board saying senior managers forged data; KPMG's forensic report goes to prosecutors and Consob.
Read the caseTheborn's Yeondon franchisees filed an FTC complaint over promised sales ahead of its IPO
Eight store owners said Paik Jong-won promised 30M-won months and 20-25% margins; FTC data shows 260M won a year, and the Kosdaq IPO picked up a cloud.
Read the caseTee International's CEO directed S$6.55M in unauthorised payments — and lost his job
A mainboard-listed engineering group found S$6.55M of remittances to related parties made on its CEO's instruction, unknown to the board.
Read the caseTarget Australia announced plans to close or convert more than 160 stores
In May 2020, Wesfarmers announced changes to 167 Target sites, including 92 planned Kmart conversions, after Target lost ground to its sister chain.
Read the caseShoes of Prey raised $29.5M on custom shoes — mass-market buyers just wanted trends
The start-up let shoppers design their own shoes and put design centres in Nordstrom — then learned the mass market prefers copying celebrities to creating.
Read the caseShein's IPO collapsed its valuation 70% — from $100bn to $27bn
Rejected in London and New York over its supply chain, Shein listed in Hong Kong at about $27bn — 70% below its 2022 private-market peak.
Read the caseRBA's note-printing subsidiaries hid $21M bribery fines behind suppression orders
Securency and Note Printing Australia bribed officials across Asia for banknote contracts — record fines and suspended sentences stayed secret for seven years.
Read the caseRTÉ lost €2.2M on a Toy Show musical staged in a venue not built for theatre
Ireland's broadcaster spent €2.7M on 27 performances of Toy Show the Musical — over €81,400 lost per show — then had to explain it to parliament.
Read the caseRio Tinto blew up 46,000-year-old caves — investors forced out its CEO
The Juukan Gorge blast destroyed rock shelters holding evidence of human habitation stretching back 46,000 years; three executives went.
Read the caseRicardo Eletro's recovery plan became a court-decreed bankruptcy with R$4.6bn in debts
A retailer built by acquisitions with no synergies fell from R$10bn and 1,200 stores to insolvency; a judge cited 'asset stripping' and decreed bankruptcy.
Read the caseRex's million-dollar-a-week intercity gamble flew it into administration
The regional airline bet on Boeing 737 city routes against Qantas in 2021 — by July 2024 the bled-out carrier entered voluntary administration.
Read the caseRCR Tomlinson chased solar it didn't understand — the 120-year firm folded
Australia's oldest engineering name underbid solar contracts it couldn't cost, wrote down $57M, raised $100M — then hit administration.
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