6. Nick Leeson: Lost $1.3 Billion

Nicholas ‘Nick’ Leeson is a former derivatives broker Barings Bank, U.K. His unauthorized speculative and fraudulent trading led to the end of Barings Bank. He is the next most famous rogue trader on this list. With a promising future ahead of him, he scaled the ladder at Barings Bank quickly, becoming its head in the Singapore division. Engaging in Nikkei futures and options spelt out major losses for Leeson. He went to an extent of hiding these financial losses in a secret account. His losses sky-rocketed and became worse than ever when Nikkei hit the ground. As he could not conceal his losses any further, he declared that Barings Bank had gone bankrupt in the year 1995. He spent nearly six years in Changi Prison, Singapore. A movie by the name of ‘Rogue Trader,’ was released in 1999.