Parmalat entered extraordinary administration in December 2003 after a multibillion-euro accounting scandal.
The Italian dairy and food company collapsed when a supposed €3.95 billion Bank of America account was revealed to be nonexistent. The discovery exposed a much larger financial hole and made the case one of Europe’s most significant corporate scandals.
Parmalat had used offshore entities, false documents and complex transactions to conceal debt and losses. Founder Calisto Tanzi was later convicted for his role in the fraud.
The company was restructured under extraordinary administration and its operating businesses continued. Parmalat’s case is often compared with Enron, but Parmalat was a European food group rather than an American energy trader.