8 Worst Corporate Scandals in Europe

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1. Parmalat Scandal

The company that specializes in dairy products isn’t exactly what you’re expecting to find among largest European corporate scandals, but nonetheless, Parmalat is here, and it takes number 1 spot on our list of 7 worst corporate scandals in Europe. Italian company’s downfall started in 2003 when shareholders found out that $3.9 billion account in Bank of America was fake. As you can imagine, this started a chain reaction which eventually revealed a €14.3 billion black hole in Parmalat’s books. Hundreds of thousands of investors would never recover their money and Parmalat’s key men would be sentenced to prison as the aftermath. CFO Fausto Tonna would get two and a half years, while the owner Calisto Tanzi initially got 18 years, but was sentenced to additional 9 for Parmatour bankruptcy. This scandal hit the Parma Football Club as well, and they never managed to recover after losing their main sponsor. To this date, Parmalat bankruptcy remains the biggest European bankruptcy of all time.

Worst Corporate Scandals in Europe

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