The flagship newspaper of the ruined Maxwell empire reported Wednesday that the late Robert Maxwell's daughter ordered piles of his documents shredded days after his mysterious death at sea last month.
Also Wednesday, Britain's Serious Fraud Office announced that it is investigating allegations of stock manipulation, in this case that shares in Maxwell Communication Corp. were illegally sold to prop up the price of the stock. The stock had been pledged as collateral for loans.Maxwell allegedly siphoned off more than $1.2 billion from public and private Maxwell companies and their pension funds to keep his disintegrating media empire going. The family's holdings include the New York Daily News.
He allegedly used the pension funds to service debts, cover operating losses, gamble in the foreign exchange markets and support the stock of his publicly held companies.
Maxwell died on Nov. 5 off the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. His nude body was found in the water hours after he disappeared from his yacht.
An autopsy report said he probably died of a heart attack, or fell off the ship and drowned. But it did not reach a final determination, and some insurance investigators reportedly believe he committed suicide.
Maxwell's death triggered the collapse of his empire, which had been reeling from huge debts.
The Maxwells' Daily Mirror tabloid reported that his daughter Ghislaine ordered piles of his documents shredded after he died.
The Serious Fraud Office has been investigating missing pension funds of Maxwell's Mirror Group Newspapers PLC and missing funds from Mirror Group.