WHY IT HAPPENED

• He had taken on large amounts of debt.

• Following the launch of a string of expensive failures, Maxwell was reduced to
shunting money between his companies to give the impression they were
profitable.
• He repeatedly changed the dates on which they reported earnings, in order to
fool auditors.
• He looted money from the pension fund of the Mirror Group in an attempt to
prop up its share price.
• With his businesses on the brink of collapse, Maxwell was reported missing from
his yacht on 5 November 1991. His body was later discovered in the Atlantic
Ocean, an apparent suicide (officially considered an accidental drowning).