Steinhoff scandal
Manager Magazin reported in August 2017 that Jooste was being investigated by German authorities. In response Steinhoff's price slumped by 16% on the JSE, but recovered after the company denied the allegations. This was followed by allegations of accounting impropriety made by Steinhoff's former POCO subsidiary.
Jooste's December 2017 resignation as CEO of Steinhoff came as the company admitted to "accounting irregularities" within the group. In a letter to staff on his resignation, Jooste apologized for "big mistakes" and that he had caused bad publicity for the company. Between 5 and 7 December Steinhoff's share price plunged from R46.25 to R10, and its bonds fell in line.
It was soon labeled as the biggest corporate scandal in South African history and the biggest corporate crash in the country's history. As a result of Jooste's resignation, $11.4 billion was wiped off the value of the global furniture and clothing retailer. This in turn had a ripple effect on several other companies, including its subsidiary Steinhoff Africa Retail (Star), which may have guaranteed some of Steinhoff's debt. In seven days of trading, the Johannesburg exchange was hit by losses totaling about R295 billion ($24 billion), equivalent to 8% of South Africa's GDP.
In a letter to staff on his resignation, Jooste apologized for "big mistakes" and that he had caused bad publicity for the company. Steinhoff's share price dipped to R4.50 (down from R51.40 on 1 December) when the company's accumulated debt of R161 billion ($12.8 billion) was revealed. By late December, Steinhoff shares were on the brink of collapse, as management could not ascertain the magnitude of accounting irregularities, or provide assurances concerning individual companies' cash flows. Steinhoff however won approval to roll over €690m of its financing, and its US subsidiary Mattress Firm secured a loan of $225m from Barclays. Steinhoff also sold PSG shares worth R4.7 billion to increase liquidity.
The German raid of 2015 recovered documents supposedly signed by Andreas Seifert, co-managing director of furniture chain XXXLutz. Seifert denied ever having seen or signed the papers, and filed criminal charges for document forgery.
In the wake of the scandal media articles identified Jooste's supposed mistress and provided revelations such as that he had been nicknamed The Seagull "because he would fly in, shit all over his executives and then fly out."