Nicholas William Leeson (born 25 February 1967) is an English derivatives trader who created fake accounts to cover up mistakes and losses, ended up bankrupting Barings Bank, the United Kingdom’s oldest merchant bank. He was a rogue trader who made fraudulent, unauthorized and speculative trades, which led directly to the 1995 collapse of the bank, for which he was sentenced to prison.
After his arrest, he even took a dig at the bank’s senior management.