| 01 |
Greensill Capital
Boring invoice finance that hid concentrated, under-insured, speculative lending.
|
Q1 |
Supply-chain finance |
Europe |
2021 |
$10B |
| 02 |
Suez Canal blockage
One ship wedged sideways choked 12% of world trade for six days.
|
Q3 |
Shipping |
MENA |
2021 |
$9B/day |
| 03 |
Equifax breach
One unpatched server exposed half of America. The password was admin.
|
Q3 |
Credit data |
Global |
2017 |
147.9M records |
| 04 |
Sichuan earthquake
Known quake zone; tofu-dreg schools turned a tail into a certainty.
|
Q2 |
Geophysical |
Asia-Pacific |
2008 |
69,000 lives |
| 05 |
Orange County
The richest US county levered a dull treasury into the largest municipal bankruptcy.
|
Q4 |
Public finance |
N. America |
1994 |
$1.6B |
| 06 |
LTCM
Two Nobel laureates, 25-to-1 leverage, and a model that met reality.
|
Q4 |
Hedge fund |
N. America |
1998 |
$4.6B |
| 07 |
Black Monday
Portfolio insurance fed on itself until the market fell a fifth in a day.
|
Q4 |
Markets |
Global |
1987 |
-22.6%/day |
| 08 |
Global financial crisis
Complexity and leverage, and nobody knew who was on the other side.
|
Q4 |
Banking |
Global |
2008 |
$10T+ |
| 09 |
Madoff
The steadiest returns in history. None of the trades ever happened.
|
Q-F |
Asset management |
N. America |
1983-2008 |
$65B |
| 10 |
Barings Bank
233 years old, one rogue trader in Singapore, sold for a pound.
|
Q-F |
Banking |
Asia-Pacific |
1995 |
£827M |
| 11 |
Tenerife collision
The deadliest crash in aviation history happened on the ground.
|
Q3 |
Aviation |
Europe |
1977 |
583 lives |
| 12 |
Turkey-Syria earthquakes NEW
Twin M7.8 quakes; building-code amnesties left 13M non-compliant structures.
|
Q2 |
Seismic |
MENA |
2023 |
50,000+ lives |
| 13 |
Derna dam collapses NEW
Two neglected dams burst overnight after explicit published warnings.
|
Q2 |
Dam infrastructure |
MENA |
2023 |
~11,300 lives |
| 14 |
Beirut port explosion NEW
2,750t of ammonium nitrate sat unsecured for six years, then detonated.
|
Q2 |
Port storage |
MENA |
2020 |
218 lives |
| 15 |
East Palestine derailment NEW
One overheated bearing derailed a hazmat train and forced a toxic burn.
|
Q3 |
Rail hazmat |
N. America |
2023 |
$2.2B |
| 16 |
Maui / Lahaina wildfire NEW
A downed power line in dry grass consumed historic Lahaina.
|
Q2 |
Wildfire/utility |
N. America |
2023 |
102 lives |
| 17 |
Los Angeles wildfires NEW
Santa Ana winds drove two fires through Palisades and Altadena.
|
Q2 |
Wildfire |
N. America |
2025 |
$76-131B |
| 18 |
Myanmar earthquake NEW
M7.7 on the well-known Sagaing Fault; unreinforced homes collapsed.
|
Q2 |
Seismic |
Asia-Pacific |
2025 |
3,600+ lives |
| 19 |
Baltimore Key Bridge collapse NEW
A ship blackout hit an unprotected pier and dropped the bridge.
|
Q3 |
Bridge/maritime |
N. America |
2024 |
$1.7-5.2B |
| 20 |
Al Haouz earthquake NEW
A moderate quake killed thousands because mudbrick homes had no survival voids.
|
Q2 |
Seismic |
MENA |
2023 |
2,900+ lives |
| 21 |
Valencia DANA floods NEW
A known flash-flood phenomenon; the regional alert went out hours too late.
|
Q2 |
Flood |
Europe |
2024 |
223+ lives |
| 22 |
Vizag styrene leak NEW
A refrigeration failure released a neurotoxin over villages at a rushed restart.
|
Q2 |
Petrochemical |
Asia-Pacific |
2020 |
13 lives |
| 23 |
Champlain Towers collapse NEW
The concrete corrosion was documented years earlier, never repaired, and the tower pancaked overnight.
|
Q2 |
Building |
N. America |
2021 |
98 lives |
| 24 |
Pakistan monsoon floods NEW
Record monsoon submerged a third of the country built on floodplains.
|
Q2 |
Flood |
Asia-Pacific |
2022 |
$30-40B |
| 25 |
Ahr Valley floods NEW
A known flood-prone valley; warnings came late and hazard maps underestimated it.
|
Q2 |
Flood |
Europe |
2021 |
190 lives |
| 26 |
CrowdStrike outage NEW
One faulty security update bricked 8.5M Windows machines worldwide.
|
Q3 |
Cybersecurity |
Global |
2024 |
$5.4B |
| 27 |
AWS US-EAST-1 outage NEW
A routine scaling action hit a latent bug and took down half the internet.
|
Q3 |
Cloud |
Global |
2021 |
5-7 hrs |
| 28 |
Baltic Sea cable cuts NEW
Ships dragging anchors severed telecom and power cables between states.
|
Q3 |
Subsea infrastructure |
Europe |
2024 |
11+ cables |
| 29 |
Red Sea cable cuts NEW
A sinking ship's dragging anchor cut Asia-Europe internet cables.
|
Q3 |
Subsea telecom |
MENA |
2024 |
25% of traffic |
| 30 |
Iberian Peninsula blackout NEW
Cascading generator trips blacked out Spain and Portugal for hours.
|
Q3 |
Power grid |
Europe |
2025 |
31 GW lost |
| 31 |
Heathrow substation fire NEW
A single substation fire shut Europe's busiest airport for a day.
|
Q3 |
Aviation/power |
Europe |
2025 |
270,000 journeys |
| 32 |
Change Healthcare ransomware NEW
One server without MFA froze billing for half of US healthcare.
|
Q3 |
Healthcare IT |
N. America |
2024 |
190M records |
| 33 |
Southwest holiday meltdown NEW
A storm exposed legacy crew software; 16,900 flights cancelled.
|
Q3 |
Aviation |
N. America |
2022 |
$1.1B |
| 34 |
Colonial Pipeline shutdown NEW
One leaked password shut the pipeline carrying 45% of East Coast fuel.
|
Q3 |
Energy logistics |
N. America |
2021 |
$4.4M |
| 35 |
Meta global outage NEW
One backbone command erased Facebook from the internet worldwide.
|
Q3 |
Internet |
Global |
2021 |
6 hrs |
| 36 |
Toyota supplier hack NEW
Ransomware on one parts supplier halted all 14 Toyota Japan plants.
|
Q3 |
Auto supply chain |
Asia-Pacific |
2022 |
13,000 vehicles |
| 37 |
MOVEit mass-exploit NEW
One file-transfer zero-day breached 2,700+ organisations at once.
|
Q3 |
Data supply chain |
Global |
2023 |
95M+ people |
| 38 |
Archegos collapse NEW
Hidden swap leverage detonated; each bank only saw its own slice.
|
Q4 |
Prime brokerage |
N. America |
2021 |
$10B |
| 39 |
LME nickel squeeze NEW
Nickel spiked 270% in two days; the exchange cancelled the trades.
|
Q4 |
Commodities |
Global |
2022 |
$3.9B voided |
| 40 |
Terra / Luna collapse NEW
An 'algorithmic' stablecoin depegged into a mint-and-burn death spiral.
|
Q4 |
Stablecoin |
Global |
2022 |
$40B+ |
| 41 |
Three Arrows Capital NEW
One over-levered fund defaulted and cascaded through every crypto lender.
|
Q4 |
Crypto hedge fund |
Asia-Pacific |
2022 |
$3.5B |
| 42 |
UK LDI / gilt crisis NEW
'Safe' pension hedges hid leverage that forced a gilt margin doom-loop.
|
Q4 |
Pensions |
Europe |
2022 |
£65B |
| 43 |
FTX / Alameda NEW
A backdoor let customer deposits fund the trading arm until it collapsed.
|
Q-F |
Crypto exchange |
Global |
2022 |
$8B |
| 44 |
Silicon Valley Bank NEW
A duration mismatch met a 94%-uninsured base in a digital-speed run.
|
Q4 |
Banking |
N. America |
2023 |
$209B |
| 45 |
First Republic Bank NEW
The same rate trap as SVB, triggered by contagion across 'similar' banks.
|
Q4 |
Banking |
N. America |
2023 |
$229B |
| 46 |
Credit Suisse / UBS NEW
A 167-year-old G-SIB failed on confidence; AT1 bonds zeroed before equity.
|
Q4 |
Global bank |
Europe |
2023 |
$17.2B AT1 |
| 47 |
Adani-Hindenburg rout NEW
A short-seller report erased $150B from an over-levered conglomerate.
|
Q4 |
Conglomerate |
Asia-Pacific |
2023 |
$150B |
| 48 |
Yen carry-trade unwind NEW
A small BoJ hike unwound the global carry trade; Nikkei's worst since 1987.
|
Q4 |
Global macro |
Asia-Pacific |
2024 |
-12%/day |
| 49 |
Tricolor Holdings NEW
A subprime lender double-pledged collateral; banks saw security that wasn't there.
|
Q4 |
Subprime auto |
N. America |
2025 |
$800M |
| 50 |
First Brands Group NEW
Off-balance-sheet factoring hid the debt; invoices inflated up to 50x.
|
Q4 |
Private credit |
Global |
2025 |
$10B+ |
| 51 |
Celsius Network NEW
A 'safe yield' deposit product was a disguised, leveraged risk book.
|
Q-F |
Crypto lending |
N. America |
2022 |
$4.7B |
| 52 |
Wirecard NEW
A DAX champion's audited escrow balances were forgeries.
|
Q-F |
Fintech |
Europe |
2020 |
€1.9B |
| 53 |
Theranos NEW
A blood analyser that never worked, sold as validated to investors.
|
Q-F |
Health tech |
N. America |
2022 |
$945M |
| 54 |
Nikola / Trevor Milton NEW
A truck filmed rolling downhill was pitched as self-powered.
|
Q-F |
Cleantech |
N. America |
2022 |
$168M |
| 55 |
Frank / JPMorgan NEW
A startup invented 4M fake users to sell itself to JPMorgan.
|
Q-F |
Fintech |
N. America |
2023 |
$175M |
| 56 |
Ozy Media NEW
A CEO forged contracts and impersonated executives to lure investors.
|
Q-F |
Media |
N. America |
2024 |
$60M |
| 57 |
Abraaj Group NEW
An 'impact' healthcare fund was used as a slush fund via fake invoices.
|
Q-F |
Private equity |
MENA |
2019 |
$385M |
| 58 |
HyperFund / HyperVerse NEW
A crypto Ponzi with an actor hired to play the fake CEO.
|
Q-F |
Crypto MLM |
Global |
2022 |
$1.89B |
| 59 |
HeadSpin NEW
A unicorn valued on revenue that was faked, inflated to roughly eight times the real figure.
|
Q-F |
Enterprise SaaS |
N. America |
2020 |
$117M |
| 60 |
Genesis / Gemini Earn NEW
A 'low-risk' yield product concealing a solvency hole.
|
Q-F |
Crypto lending |
N. America |
2023 |
$1.1B |
| 61 |
Vesttoo LOC fraud NEW
'Collateralised' reinsurance where the bank letters of credit were forged.
|
Q-F |
Reinsurance |
N. America |
2023 |
$4B |
| 62 |
Arup deepfake fraud NEW
A clerk wired funds after a video call where every colleague was an AI deepfake.
|
Q-F |
Deepfake/AI |
Asia-Pacific |
2024 |
$25M |
| 63 |
Bybit hack NEW
A wallet-UI supply-chain attack redirected the largest crypto theft ever.
|
Q-F |
Crypto exchange |
Global |
2025 |
$1.5B |
| 64 |
Zillow Offers NEW
An AI home-pricing model overpaid at scale and forced Zillow to exit.
|
Q1 |
Proptech |
N. America |
2021 |
$540M |
| 65 |
Air Canada chatbot NEW
A tribunal held an airline liable for a refund policy its chatbot invented.
|
Q1 |
Airlines |
N. America |
2024 |
C$812 |
| 66 |
Synapse / Evolve NEW
'FDIC-insured' deposits froze when a ledger intermediary failed to reconcile.
|
Q1 |
Fintech (BaaS) |
N. America |
2024 |
$265M |
| 67 |
Amaranth Advisors NEW
A leveraged bet that winter gas would outrun summer. The spread the model ruled out arrived in a week.
|
Q4 |
Hedge fund |
N. America |
2006 |
$6.6B |
| 68 |
BAE Systems Al-Yamamah bribery scandal NEW
£43 billion in Saudi jets, a billion to a prince, and a guilty plea for paperwork, not bribery.
|
Q-F |
Defense / arms |
Europe |
2010 |
$400M |
| 69 |
Northern Rock bank run NEW
Funded long mortgages with short-term wholesale money. It froze, and Britain queued: first bank run in 150 years.
|
Q4 |
Mortgage bank |
Europe |
2007 |
£4.6B |
| 70 |
Mattel lead-paint toy recall NEW
Mattel audited its Chinese factories. Nobody audited the paint supplier four tiers down.
|
Q3 |
Toy manufacturing |
Global |
2007 |
~2M toys |
| 71 |
Société Générale / Jérôme Kerviel rogue trading loss NEW
Forged hedges made a 50 billion euro bet look flat. The 4.9 billion loss was real.
|
Q-F |
Investment banking |
Europe |
2008 |
€4.9B |
| 72 |
Icelandic banking collapse NEW
320,000 people ran banks worth ten times their GDP. All three fell in a single week.
|
Q4 |
Banking |
Europe |
2008 |
$85B |
| 73 |
2008 Chinese melamine milk scandal NEW
Melamine faked the protein in baby formula. It fooled the nitrogen test, not the kidneys.
|
Q-F |
Dairy / infant formula |
Asia-Pacific |
2008 |
300,000 children |
| 74 |
Satyam Computer Services fraud NEW
Years of steady IT-boom profit. The billion in bank cash was forged, one fake invoice at a time.
|
Q-F |
IT outsourcing |
Asia-Pacific |
2009 |
$1B |
| 75 |
Air France Flight 447 NEW
Three iced sensors handed the jet back to the crew, who held the nose up all the way down.
|
Q3 |
Aviation |
Global |
2009 |
228 lives |
| 76 |
General Motors bankruptcy NEW
America's biggest carmaker spent decades ignoring the math. The bailout cost taxpayers $11.2 billion.
|
Q1 |
Automotive |
N. America |
2009 |
$11.2B |
| 77 |
Deepwater Horizon NEW
The failsafe was a blowout preventer. It buckled the very pipe it was built to shear.
|
Q3 |
Offshore oil drilling |
N. America |
2010 |
$61.6B |
| 78 |
2010 Flash Crash NEW
The models assumed a buyer would always be there. For 36 minutes, there was none.
|
Q4 |
Equity markets |
N. America |
2010 |
$1T |
| 79 |
2010 Haiti Earthquake NEW
Scientists forecast a 7.2 on the fault in 2008. Haiti had no building code. The quake came in 2010.
|
Q2 |
Disaster / infrastructure |
LatAm |
2010 |
220,000 lives |
| 80 |
Toyota unintended-acceleration recall NEW
Toyota bragged internally about saving $100M by negotiating the recall down. It cost them $1.2 billion.
|
Q1 |
Automotive |
Global |
2010 |
$1.2B |
| 81 |
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster NEW
Blamed on the wave. The backup generators sat in the basement, below a seawall long known to be too low.
|
Q3 |
Nuclear power |
Asia-Pacific |
2011 |
159,128 evacuated |
| 82 |
MF Global collapse NEW
He bet $6.3B on Europe's shakiest bonds. The margin calls got paid with customer money.
|
Q4 |
Futures brokerage |
N. America |
2011 |
$1.6B |
| 83 |
Olympus accounting scandal NEW
Twenty years of steady books at a camera giant. The losses had been flying away the whole time.
|
Q-F |
Optics manufacturer |
Asia-Pacific |
2011 |
$1.7B |
| 84 |
BlackBerry / RIM collapse NEW
The iPhone shipped in 2007. RIM kept building keyboards. $70B in market value gone by 2012.
|
Q1 |
Smartphones |
N. America |
2011 |
$70B |
| 85 |
Knight Capital NEW
Dead code from 2003 woke on the one server they forgot to update, then traded for 45 minutes.
|
Q3 |
Market maker / HFT |
N. America |
2012 |
$440M |
| 86 |
JPMorgan London Whale NEW
A new risk model halved the danger overnight. It divided by a sum instead of an average.
|
Q4 |
Investment banking |
N. America |
2012 |
$6.2B |
| 87 |
LIBOR rigging scandal NEW
The world's most important number, submitted by email each morning. The banks made it up.
|
Q-F |
Banking |
Global |
2012 |
$9B |
| 88 |
Kodak Chapter 11 Bankruptcy NEW
Invented the digital camera in 1975, then buried it to protect film. Bankrupt by 2012, $6.75B in debt.
|
Q1 |
Photography/imaging |
N. America |
2012 |
$6.75B |
| 89 |
Rana Plaza collapse NEW
Cracks aired on TV the night before. Refuse the shift, lose a month's pay. They went in.
|
Q1 |
Garment manufacturing |
Asia-Pacific |
2013 |
1,134 lives |
| 90 |
Target data breach NEW
Phished the air-conditioning vendor into 40 million cards. The alarms fired. Nobody answered.
|
Q1 |
Retail |
N. America |
2013 |
40M cards |
| 91 |
Cyprus bail-in NEW
The eurozone's first depositor bail-in. Nearly half of every euro above the insured limit became shares in the bank that lost it.
|
Q4 |
Banking |
Europe |
2013 |
47.5% |
| 92 |
Petrobras / Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash) NEW
Petrobras's big contracts were inflated by design; the markup bankrolled the men who awarded them.
|
Q-F |
State oil / energy |
LatAm |
2014 |
$2.95B |
| 93 |
GM ignition-switch recall NEW
A key that slipped to off shut down the airbags. GM knew for a decade and fixed nothing.
|
Q1 |
Automotive |
N. America |
2014 |
124 lives |
| 94 |
2014 Sony Pictures hack NEW
North Korea wiped a studio's computers to kill a Seth Rogen comedy about killing Kim Jong-un.
|
Q1 |
Film studio |
N. America |
2014 |
100TB claimed |
| 95 |
Volkswagen Dieselgate NEW
The software knew when it was being tested, and ran clean only then. 11 million cars.
|
Q-F |
Automotive |
Europe |
2015 |
$33.3B |
| 96 |
Swiss franc unpeg (SNB) NEW
The central bank swore it would defend the floor. Three years steady, then 30% in twenty minutes.
|
Q4 |
Hedge fund / FX brokers |
Europe |
2015 |
$830M |
| 97 |
1MDB scandal NEW
A sovereign fund to develop Malaysia. $4.5B left, some to bankroll a film about financial fraud.
|
Q-F |
Sovereign wealth fund |
Asia-Pacific |
2015 |
$4.5B |
| 98 |
Tianjin port explosions NEW
One overheated container of nitrocellulose. Next door, 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on bribed permits.
|
Q1 |
Chemical logistics |
Asia-Pacific |
2015 |
173 lives |
| 99 |
Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal NEW
Eight accounts per household, the industry envy. 3.5 million were opened by no one.
|
Q-F |
Retail banking |
N. America |
2016 |
3.5M accounts |
| 100 |
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall NEW
They recalled 2.5 million phones and swapped the batteries. The replacements caught fire too.
|
Q3 |
Consumer electronics |
Global |
2016 |
$5.3B |
| 101 |
Panama Papers / Mossack Fonseca NEW
11.5 million files from one law firm. Every shell company had a real owner it was built to hide.
|
Q-F |
Offshore law firm |
Global |
2016 |
11.5M documents |
| 102 |
NotPetya (Maersk) NEW
A Ukrainian tax update froze a fifth of world shipping. One server in Ghana had lost power and survived.
|
Q3 |
Shipping / logistics |
Global |
2017 |
$300M |
| 103 |
Grenfell Tower fire NEW
The cladding failed every fire test. They faked the certificate and wrapped a tower in it.
|
Q1 |
Social housing |
Europe |
2017 |
72 lives |
| 104 |
WannaCry ransomware attack NEW
The fix shipped in March. In May the worm took 150 countries, on the machines nobody patched.
|
Q3 |
Healthcare / IT |
Global |
2017 |
$4B |
| 105 |
Boeing 737 MAX MCAS crashes NEW
A single sensor could push the nose down. The pilots were never told the system existed.
|
Q3 |
Aviation |
Global |
2018 |
346 lives |
| 106 |
Carillion collapse NEW
A construction empire owing £7bn with £29m in the bank. Its big contracts booked profits they were losing.
|
Q1 |
Construction/outsourcing |
Europe |
2018 |
£7B liabilities |
| 107 |
Carlos Ghosn / Nissan compensation fraud NEW
Nissan's celebrated savior hid $140M of his own pay, then fled Japan folded inside an audio-gear case.
|
Q-F |
Automotive |
Asia-Pacific |
2018 |
$140M |
| 108 |
Morandi Bridge collapse (Genoa) NEW
The designer warned in 1979 the sea air would rust the cables. Nobody coated them. 43 died.
|
Q1 |
Highway infrastructure |
Europe |
2018 |
43 lives |
| 109 |
WeWork failed IPO NEW
Valued at $47 billion as a tech unicorn. It leased buildings for 15 years and rented desks by the month.
|
Q1 |
Flexible office / coworking |
N. America |
2019 |
$47B |
| 110 |
PG&E bankruptcy / Camp Fire NEW
A worn hook on a tower unclimbed since 2001 killed 85 people and bankrupted the utility.
|
Q1 |
Electric utility |
N. America |
2019 |
85 lives |
| 111 |
Thomas Cook collapse NEW
178 years old, drowned in £1.7bn of debt. Its collapse left the state to fly 150,000 travellers home.
|
Q1 |
Travel and tourism |
Europe |
2019 |
150,000 passengers |
