Ivar Kreuger shot himself in Paris in 1932, and auditors found his match empire rested on forged Italian bonds

Ivar Kreuger, born in Kalmar in 1880, controlled most of the world's match production through Svenska Tändsticks AB and his holding company, Kreuger & Toll. He lent about $384 million to fifteen countries, and about $250 million of his securities were sold in America. On 12 March 1932, a day after returning from the United States, he was found dead on his bed in his Paris flat with a 9mm pistol beside him. French police and a doctor concluded he had shot himself. His note to his colleague Krister Littorin began: "I have made such a mess of things." Price Waterhouse found that Kreuger & Toll's 1930 balance sheets grossly misrepresented its position. Italian match monopoly bonds with a face value of £28,668,500 were forgeries; Kreuger had signed the Italian officials' names himself. Kreuger & Toll was declared bankrupt on 24 May 1932. His personal estate went into bankruptcy too, and his houses, boats, furniture and paintings were auctioned that year. Shares and debentures were worthless. Unsecured creditors received 42.8 percent. The bankruptcy work ended in 1941. Prime Minister C. G. Ekman resigned in August 1932 after accusations that his party had taken Kreuger money. Kreuger is buried at Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm. The match business was rebuilt as Swedish Match, which Philip Morris International has owned outright since 2023.