Nick Leeson, the supposed master trader at the Singapore office of the great London-based Barings Bank, skipped town, leaving his colleagues holding a very big-and empty-bag. Leeson had been hiding losses of $1.24 billion, more than the capital of the bank. Barings' rules forbade Leeson to bet the bank's money in the volatile futures market without carefully hedging the position against large losses. But Leeson bought enormous amounts of unprotected futures, hoping they would turn a fancy profit. He bet wrong, was nabbed in Frankfurt-and will stand trial in Singapore for fraud.