Rogues’ Gallery

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John Rusnak joins a list of infamous traders who gambled and lost hundreds of millions


Barings, Britain’s oldest merchant bank, collapsed in 1995 after the Singapore-based Leeson ran up losses from unauthorized trading of nearly $1.3 billion. He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail in Singapore for fraud but was released in 1999 because he was suffering from cancer.


The Daiwa Bank executive lost more than $1.1 billion in trading losses and unauthorized sales in the American bond market during a 11-year period. He was found guilty of fraud in 1996 and jailed for four years in the U.S.


The former fund manager at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in London allegedly siphoned off money in a case that cost more than $460 million. The charges against him were dropped in 2000 after he was declared mentally unfit to stand trial. He had arrived at court dressed as a woman.


Sumitomo Bank’s chief copper trader racked up losses of $2.6 billion in unauthorized deals over 10 years. He pleaded guilty to forgery and fraud, and is serving eight years in a Japanese prison.


The founder of Princeton Economics International in New Jersey allegedly defrauded Japanese investors of nearly $1 billion, mostly in risky currency trading. He has been jailed since January 2000 for contempt after failing to turn over gold bars, antiques and computers containing information about the case.