FSCA fines former Steinhoff director R358.75 million

The FSCA imposed an administrative penalty of R358,750,000 (approximately USD 18.9 million) on Stephanus Johannes Stehan Grobler, formerly Steinhoff International's chief legal and treasury officer, for materially misleading financial statements covering 2014 through the 2017 half-year, in breach of the Financial Markets Act.

The penalty is among the largest individual fines in the FSCA's history, alongside the R475 million penalty earlier imposed on former CEO Markus Jooste.

This is market-integrity enforcement, not data protection enforcement. It is included here because it demonstrates that the FSCA pursues senior individuals personally and at scale, nearly a decade after the underlying conduct occurred. That same appetite and capability now sit behind the regulator's crypto asset service provider licensing regime and its anti-money laundering sweep of trading platforms, both of which carry director-level exposure for regulated firms in South Africa.