Swarovski's family feuded over restructuring — 6,000 jobs, then outsiders took over
Swarovski's family feuded over the 2020 restructuring while revenue fell a third. 6,000 jobs went; the family CEO and CFO left; an outsider took over.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDSumitomo Rubber faked marine fender test data for 30 years — ISO 9001 revoked
A 2021 audit found the Kakogawa plant had rewritten marine-fender test data for three decades to ship below-spec product; ISO 9001 was yanked within a month.
Read the caseSigma-Tau raised an orphan drug 500x — regulators fined it €20.5M
Italian pharma Sigma-Tau (now Leadiant) raised the price of a lifesaving orphan drug from €0.28 to €140 per capsule, then fought regulators and lost.
Read the caseVector Marketing was accused of running a pyramid scheme targeting high school kids
Cutco sold knives through a model critics called a pyramid scheme — targeting teenagers, requiring kit deposits, paying in recruitment commissions.
Read the caseGap bet its revival on Kanye — the 10-year Yeezy deal died in 28 months
Gap shares jumped 40% on a 10-year Yeezy deal with Kanye West in 2020; in October 2022 Gap stripped its shelves and shut the store.
Read the caseStar Health denied a 31M-customer data leak while Telegram bots sold medical records
India's biggest standalone health insurer spent weeks calling the sale of 3.1 crore customers' medical data on Telegram 'rumours' before confirming a breach.
Read the caseCoinFLEX let one trader run a negative balance — then froze all withdrawals
A crypto exchange's own leverage rules let a single counterparty's account go $47M negative; when it couldn't collect, it suspended withdrawals for everyone.
Read the caseTaichi Kokubun's compliance breach erased six shows, four ads and TOKIO
Nippon TV cited 'multiple compliance violations' by Taichi Kokubun; within days his ads were pulled, TOKIO disbanded and a ¥4-5bn penalty loomed.
Read the caseNuScale's flagship SMR plant died when its power price hit $89/MWh and subscribers fled
The only NRC-certified SMR design's first US plant was terminated in 2023 after its cost rose 75% to $9.3bn and its municipal subscribers walked away.
Read the caseCoinrail deleted its compensation clause ten days before losing a third of its coins
Coinrail lost ~$37M from its hot wallet, then paid users in its own falling token — ten days after deleting the clause promising cash compensation.
Read the caseChina Metal Recycling: 'China's scrap king' was a fraud — Hong Kong wound it up
The 'largest scrap metal recycler in China' faked shipments from before its IPO; a short seller's report triggered Hong Kong's first public-interest wind-up.
Read the caseLelecha put Lu Xun's face on a milk tea as a 'homage.' The court called it infringement.
A tea brand's Lu Xun 'homage' cup used portraits it hadn't cleared. Pulled in four days, it lost a copyright suit: ¥200,000 damages and a court-ordered apology.
Read the caseSeungri's scandal cost YG 110 billion won in a day — and the contract six weeks later
The Burning Sun scandal erased 110 billion won of YG's market value in a day; YG ended Seungri's contract, and a military court sentenced him to three years.
Read the caseAcrif recalled 6.3M frozen food packs after an insider sprayed pesticide on the line
A contract worker sprayed malathion on frozen pizzas and nuggets; odor complaints sat unconnected for six weeks and the recall ended the Acrif brand.
Read the caseShawyer's EmDrive: twenty years of selling an engine that broke physics
A British engineer spent two decades selling a reactionless drive; the only thrust anyone could confirm was a warm scale.
Read the caseConsumers Distributing was Canada's catalog retailer — $1B in sales, then bankrupt in 1996
A Canadian catalog pioneer that sold watches, jewelry and electronics from 460 stores and $1B in revenue — then Walmart and debt killed it.
Read the caseApple's $120M Emancipation bet collapsed with one slap at the Oscars
Apple paid $120M+ for Will Smith's Emancipation as a prestige awards bet; the 2022 Oscars slap delayed it, and the film ended with zero Oscar nominations.
Read the caseA crude DDoS flood halted New Zealand's stock exchange four days running
Volumetric DDoS attacks from offshore knocked out NZX's connectivity four days in a row in August 2020, halting cash, debt and derivatives trading.
Read the caseJérôme Kerviel lost $6.7B at Société Générale — the largest rogue trading loss ever
A junior trader hid €50B in unauthorized bets on European index futures. Société Générale lost €4.9B unwinding them — more than the bank was worth.
Read the caseThe shortest car endorsement in history: Infiniti dropped Wang Leehom after 35 hours
Infiniti announced singer Wang Leehom as its ambassador and cut him 35 hours later — then sued him for ¥20 million.
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