Where are they now? What rogue traders do after prison
LONDON— Some seek quiet lives away from the media spotlight. Some become activists and others look to make money by selling their story.
Rogue traders like Jerome Kerviel, who saw the damages he owes slashed Friday to $1.1 million, have taken varied approaches to life after prison.
Here’s a look at some of the most high-profile rogue traders of recent years and what they’ve been up to.
Nick Leeson
The British trader, who caused the collapse of Barings Bank in 1995 when he lost more than $1 billion in unauthorized trades, was released from a Singapore jail in 1999 after serving 3½ years. He’s embraced his notoriety since then. He published a book in 1996 entitled “Rogue Trader: How I Brought Down Barings Bank and Shook the Financial World.” It was turned into a film starring Ewan McGregor as Leeson. He has also given talks to companies on risk management and written other books. He even briefly served as CEO of Galway United Football Club.
Jerome Kerviel
Kerviel, who left prison in 2014 after a three-year sentence, has used his fame to turn against his former bosses and crusade against the ills of the financial world. He has sought to portray himself as a victim of a corrupt banking system and published a book in 2010 whose titled translates roughly as “The Gears: Memoirs of a Trader.” Kerviel in 2014 made a pilgrimage by foot to Italy to meet the pope and discuss the problems of modern capitalism.
Kweku Adoboli
The former trader, who cost Swiss bank UBS $2 billion, has been fighting deportation to his na- tive Ghana since be- ing released from prison last year. Acrowd-funding appeal has been launched to help him cover his legal fees to fight his deportation. The trader served about half of a seven-year sentence for what was described as Britain’s biggest-ever bank fraud. He has apologized for his actions but says that former colleagues were still under the same pressure he was to make money.
Yasuo Hamanaka
Known as Mr. Copper, the former commodities trader for Sumitomo Corp., racked up $2.6 billion in losses over 10 years through unauthorized trades. His power in the market was such that the disclosure of his losses roiled global copper markets and rocked the 300-year-old trading company that employed him. Since his release in 2005 after seven years in prison, Hamanaka has reportedly lived in Tokyo and, unlike some other convicted rogue traders, kept a low profile out of the media spotlight.
John Rusnak
He hid almost $700 million in losses for four years while working for Allfirst Financial. He was convicted of fraud in 2002 and since 2009, when he emerged from confinement, began franchising outlets of the Zips Dry Cleaner chain, according to an interview with NPR. He also tried to help people coming out of prison by getting them jobs in his dry cleaner outlets. Rusnak also was paying his former employers $1,000 a month in damages.