In print and on screen

While fighting extradition to Singapore, Nick Leeson was held in Hoechst Prison, Frankfurt. There, he wrote a book about his experiences, which was published in 1996 as Rogue Trader – How I Brought Down Barings Bank and Shook the Financial World. Described by the Financial Times as “simultaneously entertaining and appalling”, the bestseller sets out Leeson’s background, ambitions and roller-coaster career at Barings. A dramatic story of risk, reward and disaster, it was adapted for the big screen in 1999 as Rogue Trader, directed by James Dearden, with Leeson played by Ewan Mcgregor.