Rogue Trader (1999) Apr 2026

Because he was in charge of both the trading floor and the back-office reporting (the "settlements"), he was effectively his own boss, allowing him to cook the books and make it look like he was making millions while he was actually drowning. The Kobe Earthquake

Leeson was eventually caught in Germany and sentenced to six and a half years in a Singaporean prison. The 1999 film, starring , captures that claustrophobic spiral of a man who wasn't necessarily a criminal mastermind, but a gambler who simply didn't know when to fold. Rogue Trader (1999)

The trouble started with a single mistake. A junior clerk made a trade error, and rather than reporting it, Leeson hid the loss in a dormant account: . To cover that loss, he made bigger, riskier bets. When those failed, he doubled down again. Because he was in charge of both the

The true story of is a masterclass in how a "can-do" attitude can accidentally demolish a 233-year-old institution. The trouble started with a single mistake

In the early '90s, Barings Bank—the oldest merchant bank in London—sent their rising star, Nick Leeson, to Singapore. His job was to head the futures floor at SIMEX. He was charismatic, aggressive, and quickly became the bank’s golden boy, reportedly accounting for 10% of Barings' total profits at one point. The "Error Account"

By 1995, Leeson’s secret losses were staggering. He placed a massive bet on the index, wagering that the Japanese market would remain stable overnight.

Then, the unthinkable happened: the struck Kobe. The Japanese markets plummeted, and Leeson’s positions turned into a black hole. He tried to "trade his way out" by buying more, but the hole only deepened. The Collapse