After training as a chartered accountant in his 20s, Jooste and Daun acted as non-executive directors of Steinhoff International from 1988, Notably, they acquired
Conforama in 2011 for €1,207-million, a deal that boosted revenues and growth. 2014 through 2017 saw acquisitions in South Africa, the United Kingdom and United States, which included
Mattress Firm for $2.4bn, and
Poundland for £597m in depressed retail conditions. Despite being partially funded with Steinhoff shares, the very large premium paid for Mattress Firm prompted scrutiny by independent analysts. The Pepkor acquisition also occurred without a cautionary announcement, raising suspicions at the
FSB about possible
insider trading leading up to the deal. The split implied a 71% holding in new entity, Star, which managed more than 5,000 South African stores, more than any other retailer. In October 2015 Jooste treated some
Stellenbosch colleagues, friends and associates to a lavish excursion to the semi-final of the
Rugby World Cup at
Twickenham Stadium, which is estimated to have cost Steinhoff shareholders some R84 million. On 4 December 2015, Steinhoff announced that
Oldenburg authorities had carried out a 26 November raid on its European headquarters in
Westerstede, Germany, in order to review its
balance sheet treatment of transfers to subsidiaries or third parties. Three days later, on 7 December, Steinhoff International Holdings transferred its primary listing from
Johannesburg to
Frankfurt, as, in Jooste's words, the majority of the firm's stores, customers and revenues were in Europe. Though describing it as "an important day in the history of Steinhoff", Jooste chose not to leave Cape Town to attend the event, citing "neck pain" which precluded travelling. Steinhoff's share price peaked at R90 a share in 2016, making it the 15th largest company listed on the
Johannesburg exchange. The
conglomerate then owned over 40 retail outlets,. Its March 2017 accounts showed €3.1 billion in cash reserves,
Manager Magazin revealed in August 2017 that Jooste was one of the managers being investigated in Germany.
Financial Mail journalists, aided by the
Panama Papers, alleged that Jooste had secret stakes in these daughter companies before they formally entered the Steinhoff fold, and that they were acquired at premiums to their value. They proposed that this network of front-running companies would have been set up and operated by George Alan Evans and Malcolm King. Soon after he also resigned from Phumelela Gaming & Leisure, Kenilworth Racing, and Mayfair Speculators. Jooste also submitted his resignation as chartered accountant, but
SAICA rejected it, preferring instead to suspend him pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings. According to Jooste, who was drawing a salary of R2,5 million ($190,000) a month at the time, the Steinhoff board had disagreed with his plan to find new auditors to sign off on the financials.
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. Jooste's December 2017 resignation as CEO of Steinhoff came as the company admitted to "accounting irregularities" within the group, and announced that it had approached
PwC to conduct an investigation into these. Chairwoman Heather Sonn revealed later that Steinhoff’s proprietary electronic records had been destroyed, complicating their investigation. In a letter to staff on his resignation, Jooste apologized for "big mistakes" and that he had caused bad publicity for the company. In an SMS sent on 6 December to former Steinhoff director Jo Grove, Jooste supposedly admitted that he had tried to cover up the impact of losses incurred by Steinhoff's American assets. Between 5 and 7 December Steinhoff's share price plunged from R46.25 to R10, as
Moody's downgraded Steinhoff bonds from investment grade (Baa3) to junk (B1). South Africa's
PIC (holding 7%),
Coronation and
BlackRock all made multi-billion rand losses. The
European Central Bank sold its Steinhoff bonds after these had depreciated by 50%, while
JPMorgan,
Bank of America,
Citigroup and
Goldman Sachs all reported substantial loan losses. Lenders were owed over €9 billion ($10.6 billion), but in June 2018 the majority were persuaded to a debt standstill and insolvency was avoided. 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. 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, Steinhoff's consolidated statements for October 2016 to September 2017 were eventually released in May 2019, and these included restatements of its financials for 2014–15 as well as 2015–16. The supposed €1.4 billion net profit for its 2015–16 financial year was restated as a loss of €237 million. Media articles also identified his supposed mistress who occupied a luxury apartment in
Bantry Bay, owned by Malcolm King.
Investigations and litigation PwC was tasked with an investigation into possible accounting irregularities or non-compliance with laws and regulations, and resumption of audited statements were subject to its outcome. German prosecutors confirmed in December 2017 that they were still investigating four current and former managers of a group (identified in the German press as Steinhoff), for accounting fraud. Steinhoff announced in February 2018 that they had submitted a report on Jooste to the
Hawks on suspicion of fraud, for investigation and potential prosecution. Wiese had a 22% shareholding in Steinhoff, the European component of which appears to have been subject to
margin loans with different banks. In December 2017
Absa Bank and
Investec Plc applied for the liquidation of Mayfair Speculators, when Mayfair's Steinhoff shares failed to provide sufficient collateral for its overdraft facilities. Mayfair disclosed liabilities of R1 billion and assets worth R350 million. Lenders held Mayfair accountable for R2.08 billion in total. 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 August 2018 a claim of R740 million was instituted against Jooste and his former colleague Ben la Grange by Jaap du Toit and the trustees of Le Toit Trust. The claim relates to PSG shares which Du Toit swapped for Steinhoff shares in 2015. When Jooste appeared before South African
members of parliament in September 2018, he denied knowledge of any accounting irregularities on Steinhoff's part. He stated that Deloitte's independence became compromised in Steinhoff's dealings with Andreas Seifert, causing him (Jooste) to recommend appointment of new auditors, and the delay of the release date of audited results to the end of January 2018. In Jooste's view this would have warded off financial disaster in the group. Jooste stated that from 2015 onwards, Andreas Seifert managed to convince German authorities to conduct various tax investigations into Steinhoff, besides attempting to manipulate public prosecutors, capital market regulators and the press to gain information on Steinhoff, whereby the outcome of ongoing civil litigations between Seifert and Steinhoff in three countries could be affected. In August 2019, Jooste was represented by lawyer Callie Albertyn of DKVG and advocates Jeremy Muller and Matthew Blumberg at his first court trial when Steinhoff aimed to recoup salaries and bonusses paid to Jooste and La Grange. On 4 March 2021, German prosecutors in Oldenburg revealed that Markus Jooste and three others had been secretly charged four months earlier with the first indictments from the German investigations. ==Personal life==