He Lent Millions to Nations. The Profits Were Fiction

A phone rings in a Stockholm office. On the line, supposedly, is Joseph Stalin. According to his biographer, the phone was connected to nothing, and the man answering it was ringing it himself with a button under his desk. This is the true story of Ivar Kreuger, the Swedish engineer who turned matches into a global empire. He controlled about three out of every four matches made on Earth, lent millions of dollars to France, Germany and more than a dozen other governments, sold his securities to ordinary American families, and was on the cover of Time the same Monday Wall Street had one of the worst days in its history. The world called him a genius. Only he was allowed to see the books. Along the way: a secret Silence Room, forged Italian government bonds with the officials' names spelled wrong, a telephone deal that came back to bite him, a mysterious death in Paris, and a scandal that helped change the rules of Wall Street forever. CHAPTERS 0:00 The Phone That Rang Itself 1:27 The Engineer From Kalmar 2:31 An Empire of Matches 3:13 Lending Money to Nations 4:41 Where the Money Came From 5:22 The Silence Room 6:15 On the Cover of Time 6:45 Running Out of Money 7:37 The Forged Italian Bonds 8:10 The Telephone Deal Bites Back 8:35 Last Days in Paris 9:29 Opening the Books 10:29 The Laws He Left Behind 11:01 A Question That Won't Go Away 11:46 The Matches Were Real DISCLAIMER: Our content is educational and entertainment-based. It reflects historical events and publicly documented facts, and does not constitute investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Always do your own research. SOURCES & FURTHER READING Frank Partnoy, "The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, the Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals" (PublicAffairs, 2009) TIME, "Business & Finance: Greatest Crook" (January 23, 1933) TIME, cover featuring Ivar Kreuger (October 28, 1929) Ericsson History: "The fall of the Kreuger empire" and "Ivar Kreuger – the hero who became a crook" Sveriges Riksbank, historical timeline: "The Kreuger Crash" Ekonomiska museet (Stockholm): "The Kreuger Crash" Encyclopedia.com: "Swedish Match S.A." Lars-Jonas Ångström, "Därför mördades Ivar Kreuger" (1990) Wikipedia: "Ivar Kreuger" If this story made you look at money a little differently, hit like and subscribe to TheFFortune for more true stories about the people who made fortunes, and the people who lost them. #IvarKreuger #MatchKing #FinancialHistory #Fraud #History #TheFFortune