How a 28 Year Old Man Destroyed England’s Oldest Bank

แชร์
ฝัง
  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ค. 2024
  • -- About ColdFusion --
    ColdFusion is an Australian based online media company independently run by Dagogo Altraide since 2009. Topics cover anything in science, technology, history and business in a calm and relaxed environment.
    ColdFusion Discord: / discord
    ColdFusion Music Channel: / @coldfusionmusic
    ColdFusion Merch:
    INTERNATIONAL: store.coldfusioncollective.com/
    AUSTRALIA: shop.coldfusioncollective.com/
    If you enjoy my content, please consider subscribing!
    I'm also on Patreon: / coldfusion_tv
    Bitcoin address: 13SjyCXPB9o3iN4LitYQ2wYKeqYTShPub8
    -- "New Thinking" written by Dagogo Altraide --
    This book was rated the 9th best technology history book by book authority.
    In the book you’ll learn the stories of those who invented the things we use everyday and how it all fits together to form our modern world.
    Get the book on Amazon: bit.ly/NewThinkingbook
    Get the book on Google Play: bit.ly/NewThinkingGooglePlay
    newthinkingbook.squarespace.c...
    -- ColdFusion Social Media --
    » Twitter | @ColdFusion_TV
    » Instagram | coldfusiontv
    » Facebook | / coldfusiontv
    Sources:
    ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/ca...
    www.nationalgeographic.org/th....
    www.cnbc.com/2020/02/26/barin...
    • Nick Leeson and the Fa...
    My Music Channel: / @coldfusionmusic
    //Soundtrack//
    Sublab - So In Love
    Cody G - With You
    Sangam & Cholombian - Shelter Me
    Working Men's Club - Valleys (Confidence Man Remix)
    Aleksandir - Between Summers
    Catching Flies - The Long Journey Home
    Nanobyte - Lost Time
    SWOOSE - MEMBRANE THEORY
    Mogwai - Take Me Somewhere Nice
    Ex-Re - Romance
    In Frames - Calm Wisdom
    Julianna Barwick - Look Into Your Own Mind
    Burn Water - Youth
    » Music I produce | burnwater.bandcamp.com or
    » / burnwater
    » / coldfusion_tv
    » Collection of music used in videos: • ColdFusion's 2 Hour Me...
    Producer: Dagogo Altraide
  • วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี

ความคิดเห็น • 7K

  • @pseudonym8082
    @pseudonym8082 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6776

    This has got to be your best episode yet! Relatively unknown to younger people, captivating until the end, multiple twists and narrated well 👌

    • @cactus3796
      @cactus3796 2 ปีที่แล้ว +52

      Yeah I'm 17 and doing a level economics and this is such a cool video

    • @danielhenderson7050
      @danielhenderson7050 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Agreed, loved it!

    • @iwaited90daystochangemynam55
      @iwaited90daystochangemynam55 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      The struggle of the original iPhone documentary was the best !

    • @jgil1966
      @jgil1966 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Agreed! Y

    • @sasmalprasanjit2764
      @sasmalprasanjit2764 2 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      You should also Do how an "Tiny East Indian Company" With one Room Office In London Destroyed, Devastated, Plundered India (Holding 23% of World GDP in 17th century) to Poorest Country in 1947 until Blood*** Bri*ish Left.

  • @andrewdavid5928
    @andrewdavid5928 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3039

    Years ago I read a book about the home mortgage collapse. One thing that stood out was a statement made by a successful trader. He said "the biggest mistake people can make is to assume that a person holding a high position with decades of experience actually knows what they're doing."

    • @qty1315
      @qty1315 2 ปีที่แล้ว +290

      "I have 50 years of experience in this industry."
      "The technology you're working with is less than 5 years old."

    • @leeshepherdtrading
      @leeshepherdtrading 2 ปีที่แล้ว +47

      @ Andrew David
      Absolutely true mate. You’re only as good as your last trade.

    • @unhhgcrxexhjvuvujchcrzwzwz7956
      @unhhgcrxexhjvuvujchcrzwzwz7956 2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      You know you can just say you read the big short

    • @g.harris
      @g.harris 2 ปีที่แล้ว +32

      ...and that is exactly how three Nobel Prize winners almost collapsed the entire US financial system once, remember?:)

    • @qty1315
      @qty1315 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@unhhgcrxexhjvuvujchcrzwzwz7956 Wait, are you sure that applies? The old guys knew what was going on in the movie, they just didn't care because they were making money. It was the younger guys who didn't know what was really going on that screwed everything up.
      "Do you know what you just did? You just bet against the American economy and you're smiling. That's why I hate this business." - My favorite part of the movie. Just how the guys looked so guilty when it dawned on them how many people were going to suffer so that they could get rich.

  • @chiip90
    @chiip90 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3569

    "he was a confident but unimpressive student" - describes more people in finance than you will ever believe.....

    • @josephbrennan370
      @josephbrennan370 2 ปีที่แล้ว +47

      Damn I was going to work in finance.

    • @chiip90
      @chiip90 2 ปีที่แล้ว +63

      @@josephbrennan370 well all that time you spent studying maths wasn't necessary. What you really need is either 1) grade A contacts 2) dumb luck 3) a sociopath fuck the world attitude that fools idiots I to thinking you are competent. Preferably all three.

    • @idk-qx8rp
      @idk-qx8rp 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      @@chiip90 ✍✍✍
      ..preferably all three..✍✍✍

    • @ignatziusturret5641
      @ignatziusturret5641 2 ปีที่แล้ว +83

      The only real competence they really check is: Ability to do what they tell you at any means, no conscience to steal money from elders, ability to skip and dodge rules in a sophisticated manner without having remorse.

    • @ValleysOfRain
      @ValleysOfRain 2 ปีที่แล้ว +67

      @@chiip90 "all that time you spent studying maths wasn't necessary" Not when you're skimming along using the algorithms designed by people who DID sit down and study the maths. There are some very very clever people in the financial industry, unfortunately not enough to overcome the majority of people who are just cunning enough to be dangerous, but not cunning enough to fix any cockups they do along the way.

  • @faebrowne2537
    @faebrowne2537 ปีที่แล้ว +677

    I remember this. It wasn't a victimless crime. Don't let the vast sums of money distract from the fact that many 'ordinary' people lost money they hoped to retire on.

    • @Praisethesunson
      @Praisethesunson 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

      Well as long as the rich didn't suffer

    • @derp195
      @derp195 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

      @@Praisethesunson That’s why he only served 4 years.

    • @Warlock_Sack
      @Warlock_Sack หลายเดือนก่อน

      It’s only funny when rich people lose.

    • @grumpygrumps
      @grumpygrumps 21 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      And the people who lost their jobs

  • @gkail6980
    @gkail6980 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +155

    Without denying the fact that the bank has fucked up majorly, it would be wrong to deny that Nick Leeson is a psychopath. He literally blames the bank for letting him get away with the crime.

    • @kennyadvocat
      @kennyadvocat 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

      Right, and if you watch the full movie about it there was 2 or 3 times when he actually got back to break even on his trades. If i was down 25 mill and got back to even I would be happy and never do it again. Guy went back in 10x deep....

    • @salguodrolyat2594
      @salguodrolyat2594 หลายเดือนก่อน

      He is right, psychopath or not.🤔

    • @FormerPessitheRobberfan
      @FormerPessitheRobberfan หลายเดือนก่อน

      Narcissism and Psychopathy tend to go hand in hand. He is incapable of taking responsibility for his actions. Everything is someone else's fault. Even when he did something wrong it's "oh they would have caught me sooner if they weren't incompetent." Only an idiotic narcissist thinks along those lines and only a psychopath with a damaged amygdala would so fearlessly take on such a idiotic risks.

    • @martinhsl68hw
      @martinhsl68hw 21 วันที่ผ่านมา

      NPD I reckon

  • @Balsiefen
    @Balsiefen 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4750

    Dammit. I'm nearly 29 and I haven't even destroyed a small bank.

    • @andrewmller6027
      @andrewmller6027 2 ปีที่แล้ว +176

      Then get to work, what are you waiting for ? Lmao

    • @foolnessg4236
      @foolnessg4236 2 ปีที่แล้ว +46

      @Sal Drays kinda an r/woosh, but ill explain: he means he hasnt been able to even destroy a small bank, let alone a big bank.

    • @provian
      @provian 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      underated

    • @PumpkinHoard
      @PumpkinHoard 2 ปีที่แล้ว +63

      Just make sure to do it the white collar way. If you smash the actual building down with a JCB without hurting anyone they'll probably give you 15 years. However if you defraud huge numbers of people of their money, destroying their lives and making billions in the process then you'll probably get les than 5 years. White collar crime dude. White collar.

    • @tybronx2446
      @tybronx2446 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Same :(

  • @xamsedalabay6809
    @xamsedalabay6809 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4183

    That supervisor of Morgan Stanley made the decision of his life not to hire Nick.

    • @excelsium
      @excelsium 2 ปีที่แล้ว +117

      Nah @ MS he wouldn't have been able to pass damaging a few % of the assets.

    • @chrissmith3587
      @chrissmith3587 2 ปีที่แล้ว +261

      Sounds like they actually had competent employees, the supervisor did his job well
      Baring just sounds like a cushy gig for those who don’t want to work

    • @whatsupbudbud
      @whatsupbudbud 2 ปีที่แล้ว +150

      Not really. Like Leeson alluded to, MS had their house in order and would have never allowed for this to happen. On top of that, this sort of strict compliance would probably prevented Nick from gambling this way and, as such, would have enabled him to employ proper risk management strategies to continue be a trader.

    • @ultimatum97
      @ultimatum97 2 ปีที่แล้ว +45

      Imagine what this guy would've done if he would've survived at Morgan Stanley as a trader during the 2008 bubble

    • @sarashepard7504
      @sarashepard7504 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Would’ve been great if he had hired this crook.

  • @bobamies9162
    @bobamies9162 ปีที่แล้ว +468

    I was working at Barings at this time, as a contractor in IT. I'd just been offered a permanent role when Leeson's scams broke the Bank. It was the most surreal situation I've ever lived through. The saddest thing was the amount of good people (who had nothing to do with Leeson's scams) who lost their jobs because of what he'd done.

    • @x77punk77x
      @x77punk77x ปีที่แล้ว +58

      That’s why I will never understand the often very light penalties for even egregiously reckless and harmful white-collar crimes.

    • @imicca
      @imicca 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

      He deserves the worst on this planet

    • @hellosammy4105
      @hellosammy4105 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Yeah, because losing a job is the same as getting murdered or sexually assaulted.

    • @Mathemagical55
      @Mathemagical55 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@hellosammy4105 No it's not the same, but a thousand blameless people losing their jobs or pensions, with many suffering great financial hardship as a result, should be punished severely.

    • @givebackmybreadsticks
      @givebackmybreadsticks 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +25

      ​@@hellosammy4105a total mass-debater arent you?

  • @Thesnugglebottom
    @Thesnugglebottom ปีที่แล้ว +229

    It’s so crazy to me that he can ruin so many lives and he only gets 6 years in prison, imagine all those pension funds all those jobs all that money stolen. And he served four years? Amazing

    • @jkardez4794
      @jkardez4794 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Now wasn't the judge plain stupid ?

    • @nouhowlmao2809
      @nouhowlmao2809 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      ​@@jkardez4794just corrupt

    • @sarowie
      @sarowie 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@jkardez4794 well, there should have been multiple crimes and punishments. 4 years for cheating the singapore stock exchange? Fair enough. Now the UK should at charges for... what ever. But I guess that would put all politicians in jails (or hiding in a fridge).

    • @bunk95
      @bunk95 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Is this fiction being used to market anything outside of the fiction itself?

  • @notexperienced6941
    @notexperienced6941 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1247

    9:43 Missed opportunity to say “He had not learnt his Leeson.”

    • @patrickzxwei8398
      @patrickzxwei8398 2 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      lmao

    • @GarfieldRex
      @GarfieldRex 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Jajajjaaja sí !

    • @idzkk
      @idzkk 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@patrickzxwei8398 I did not understand

    • @idzkk
      @idzkk 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      he said it in the video what am i missing 🤔

    • @patrickzxwei8398
      @patrickzxwei8398 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      he didn't emphasize it

  • @Rizhiy13
    @Rizhiy13 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9003

    This is like 95% the bank's management fault. If one employee, non-executive as well, can bring you down, there is something wrong with your company.

    • @marksargent2440
      @marksargent2440 2 ปีที่แล้ว +171

      The bankers still believe thay are the masters of the universe none of the big CEO have ever gone down for a long time because thay give the nod but still say to the guys work harder and fight for the scrap that I drop on the floor and one day you might be sitting where I am
      Most of these guys least every thing it's just show at the end of the day yet we all fall for it .you can charm people into helping you but when thay want help are you as charming as you where to them when you needed there help

    • @glagolU
      @glagolU 2 ปีที่แล้ว +128

      Ha, there is "something" wrong with every single bank on this planet. The wrong is called "fractional reserve system".

    • @dmhendricks
      @dmhendricks 2 ปีที่แล้ว +83

      Nice victim blaming. Nick Gleason agrees with you: "The fraud wasn't my fault - it was their fault for not catching me!"
      All of the fraudsters who victimize people on a daily basis sleep well using your logic.

    • @ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx
      @ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx 2 ปีที่แล้ว +48

      this's what you get when you employ people in controlling position not because of their skills but because of family relations and loyalty xD

    • @789know
      @789know 2 ปีที่แล้ว +182

      @@dmhendricks But if a company that large didn't discover such a large fraud that can collapse the company, the company has a huge problem
      Company is supposed to discover potential shady dealing/fraud from employee or executive, and caught them before it causes heavy damage
      It has a lot to do with mismanagement and lack of proper check/balances/audit.

  • @kingkusnacht
    @kingkusnacht ปีที่แล้ว +403

    The most shocking part is undoubtedly the total lack of responsibility or regret Leeson shows. As if other people being incompetent or not diligent were an acceptable excuse to commit fraud. It's horrendous to see he has no empathy for the other employees who lost their job or for the savings that were lost. Kind of a summary of what's wrong with trading

    • @DirkShotojima
      @DirkShotojima 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Narcissistic sociopath behaviour

    • @rbrookeb
      @rbrookeb 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +45

      Sociopath

    • @aryalogo6624
      @aryalogo6624 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      HE IS A NARCISSIST THATS WHY

    • @imicca
      @imicca 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      Thats banking in a nutshell

    • @auraaetherbladesigma6939
      @auraaetherbladesigma6939 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      He deserve the hatred of the endless, including the departed. May the hand of damnation grasp his soul. 😡

  • @sierrajohnson717
    @sierrajohnson717 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1745

    Pretty sure he’s a top tier narcissist. “I can recover a billion dollars” “my boss was stupid to trust me, it’s not my fault lol”

    • @NickyM_0
      @NickyM_0 2 ปีที่แล้ว +51

      Totally agree and that’s what I thought!

    • @leonbundage7117
      @leonbundage7117 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Ha ha ha.

    • @makavelismith
      @makavelismith 2 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      Oh ya, the delusions of grandeur are strong in him too.

    • @fattiger6957
      @fattiger6957 2 ปีที่แล้ว +72

      Narcissist and probably a sociopath. Based one what was shown here, the guy certainly fits the bill. No matter where he went, I'm sure he would have hurt someone just to benefit himself.

    • @makavelismith
      @makavelismith 2 ปีที่แล้ว +37

      @@fattiger6957 Potentially a full on psychopath. A sociopath wouldnt generally be as high functioning. This guy must have charmed his way around people, to get into this position but to also keep people away from catching him.

  • @ed-te1fp
    @ed-te1fp 2 ปีที่แล้ว +843

    17:25. So a single clerk in Singapore found out about his scam and brought it all down. This one guy outperformed all those teams of highly paid UK auditors and incompetent London execs who just gave him the money. Amazing. Should have put this unnamed clerk in charge.

    • @ctdieselnut
      @ctdieselnut 2 ปีที่แล้ว +54

      To the London execs, he was successful. They didn't know he had a secret acct to hide the losses. But yes, you're right, the auditors were incompetent and didn't want to fix something that on its face looked like it was working. The one clerk was the breaking point, but it could have been anyone. It was a matter of time, the one who found out just happened to be the one there to see a $50m loss nick forgot to hide. It's not that the one single clerk was good or bad, just was there at the time. Had nick hid that 50m loss, he would of eventually collapsed on his own, like madoff. It isn't sustainable to have losses running away in a vicious cycle.

    • @bookoflists
      @bookoflists 2 ปีที่แล้ว +63

      @@ctdieselnut Give the guy some credit. He followed up and kept on the fraud's case. How many others noticed discrepancies and did nothing?

    • @jialiang4500
      @jialiang4500 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      very often that a fresh blood accounting clerk find out the discrepancy and track down the huge financial mistakes of the company

    • @bookoflists
      @bookoflists 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@jialiang4500 it's a poetic justice in a way, since isn't that's how Leeson first built a name for himself within the company?

    • @barahng
      @barahng 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@ctdieselnut To the clerk he was successful too, until he actually took the time to look at the paperwork, unlike the auditors.

  • @Renard380
    @Renard380 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    This. THIS sums up our society. A parasite causes massive damage, but instead of punishing him, we make him a celebrity.

    • @souvikrc4499
      @souvikrc4499 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      And then we wonder why people like Fred Goodwin never get punished for what they did.

  • @useyournoodle100
    @useyournoodle100 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +23

    There is movie called Rogue Trader starring Ewen McGregor about this story, it's good. We should remember a lot of these older institutions in Britain were employing people who did not necessarily have any skills they were just part of the upper class and got jobs through connections.

    • @jamesbyrne9312
      @jamesbyrne9312 25 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      Yet he was from Watford.

  • @FrankieLeeH
    @FrankieLeeH 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2514

    The biggest devastation was the loss of pensions. My great-uncle lost his private pension overnight that he'd been paying into since he was 16 and spent the rest of his life surviving on government pension.

    • @anastasyawidya5885
      @anastasyawidya5885 ปีที่แล้ว +366

      @Jamal Crocker True. I sometimes really wonders why people glamorize these figures so much even though what they did was essentially a huge and horrendous crime. Remember the wolf of wallstreet? People suffered because of him, pension loss, bancruptsy abounded. Now he even has movies made and people worship him. I was like, what? Why? Totally baffling.

    • @paulmahoney7619
      @paulmahoney7619 ปีที่แล้ว +85

      @Jamal Crocker It's looking at the problem, that the people on top constantly step on us ordinary folks, and concluding that the solution is to try and reach the top by stepping on others. It's a sign of a lack of vision, that these people aspire to reach the top and step on others rather than changing the system so they don't have to fear being stepped on.

    • @hendo337
      @hendo337 ปีที่แล้ว +80

      That's the whole point, the money from all the people like your Uncle was embezzled and stolen then blamed on this clown who only got 4 years.

    • @gelbsucht947
      @gelbsucht947 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      That is absolutely terrible.

    • @rumble1925
      @rumble1925 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Jesus Christ

  • @qbasic16
    @qbasic16 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3207

    Imagine sending 75% or your bank's capital to a 28 years old trader on the opposite of the globe... peak comedy

    • @harlyslamm2888
      @harlyslamm2888 2 ปีที่แล้ว +79

      Greed does that to you....

    • @oldmanc2
      @oldmanc2 2 ปีที่แล้ว +34

      Very good summary

    • @paulsz6194
      @paulsz6194 2 ปีที่แล้ว +45

      Clearly they didn’t apply the policy of spreading one’s risks..

    • @mowtow90
      @mowtow90 2 ปีที่แล้ว +67

      That is the simplest prof of incompetance over the entire chain of command. From acauntats and oditors to siniar exects. Its pretty much impossible to have compitant CFO that is not going to see that and say - its OK , noting can go wrong.

    • @scottrich976
      @scottrich976 2 ปีที่แล้ว +43

      Proof, accountants, auditors, senior.

  • @vincenttayelrand
    @vincenttayelrand ปีที่แล้ว +49

    I remember this one.
    After ING bought bankrupt Barings, my cousin was flown in to London to make sense of the mess.
    The moment he landed the British authorities took away his passport so he wouldn't leave the UK unnoticed ....

    • @johnw1954
      @johnw1954 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      WHAT

  • @gelbsucht947
    @gelbsucht947 ปีที่แล้ว +41

    I was a teacher at the school Leeson attended, although by that time he was a former pupil. We came in one morning to hordes of reporters hanging around the premises trying to get a salacious quote about him from just about anybody. His maths teacher described him as ‚no intellectual‘.

  • @bigbigbigbigbigman
    @bigbigbigbigbigman 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4408

    I like how he calls everyone else bumbling fools but his entire scheme was based around how absurdly terrible he was as a trader.

    • @donwheels9472
      @donwheels9472 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      @@davidwesternall873 yees thank you

    • @demochannel6146
      @demochannel6146 2 ปีที่แล้ว +81

      he never learned the lesson

    • @artemaung5274
      @artemaung5274 2 ปีที่แล้ว +192

      90%+ of people are absurdly terrible at day-trading. Unless you're some genius with 140+ IQ don't even think about day-trading.
      So many people lost huge amounts of money thinking they were smarter than everybody.
      Long term investment though is a whole other animal. Pretty easy to win for many if not most.

    • @AlphaCentauri24
      @AlphaCentauri24 2 ปีที่แล้ว +120

      Your statement is paradoxical. The mere fact that he was terrible at trading & losing money & kept asking for more & more but never got caught & was simply cursorily (not) audited shows that he is aboslutely right about the management. Bumbling fools & greedy nincompoops.

    • @bigbigbigbigbigman
      @bigbigbigbigbigman 2 ปีที่แล้ว +144

      @@AlphaCentauri24 I didn't say he was wrong about. Him being an incompetent idiot doesn't mean management weren't incompetent idiots. If anything it tells us Barings was in the habit of hiring incompetent idiots. Not sure what you think paradoxes are but this isn't one.

  • @mothersuperior7942
    @mothersuperior7942 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4181

    He was simply ahead of his time. If he had come along 10 years later, taxpayers would have had to covere his losses.

    • @ignatziusturret5641
      @ignatziusturret5641 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      That is what they tell you and how the marketed the transfer of social into (more) private money. Wake up- you sheep!

    • @ariw9405
      @ariw9405 2 ปีที่แล้ว +127

      @@ignatziusturret5641 you don’t even know what you’re talking about. Anyone who still uses the term sheep is an imbecile

    • @bitsnbytes7514
      @bitsnbytes7514 2 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      Yeah... so much for the cautionary tale (20:58)

    • @jewtube1877
      @jewtube1877 2 ปีที่แล้ว +103

      I hate that this is facts.

    • @airriflemaniac
      @airriflemaniac 2 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      They learnt from his mistakes

  • @themomorain
    @themomorain ปีที่แล้ว +38

    Only 4 years of prison for such a insane screwup? That’s mental

    • @murraycharters6102
      @murraycharters6102 ปีที่แล้ว

      @themomorain. I agree with you . That narcissist and completely addicted gambler should have been locked up for at least 20 years for the damage he caused to people’s savings and furthermore the dickheads at the bank who allowed him to do it should share a cell with him.

  • @mobile8873
    @mobile8873 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I do remember this episode. It was quite a shakeup here in Singapore. U did a good video. Easy to understand and straight to the point

  • @steinarjonsson_
    @steinarjonsson_ 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6476

    He is obviously guilty of fraud but as arrogant as he may sound, he's not wrong about the incompetence of the bank's management.

    • @imicca
      @imicca 2 ปีที่แล้ว +224

      being not wrong and being a f-ing fraud are very different things and dont cancel out

    • @skimiii
      @skimiii 2 ปีที่แล้ว +315

      But does he recognize he is as incompetent as them?

    • @PaulAlexanderrr
      @PaulAlexanderrr 2 ปีที่แล้ว +267

      @@imicca he's not canceling, as the first thing he said was "he's obviously guilty"

    • @harrisonlichtenberg3162
      @harrisonlichtenberg3162 2 ปีที่แล้ว +172

      @@skimiii Less incompetence and more moral apathy.
      He knew exactly what he was doing and exactly how wrong it was, understood and recognized all the risks and took them willingly.

    • @user-jg5xv9oo9f
      @user-jg5xv9oo9f 2 ปีที่แล้ว +32

      @@imicca who said anything about canceling out?

  • @jam-lm1sz
    @jam-lm1sz 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    Gotta love people like this: their attitude narcissism, not afraid, no stress.

  • @kinglyone7172
    @kinglyone7172 2 ปีที่แล้ว +533

    Let me get this straight, this guy ruins a bank, then is put in charge of a soccer club and runs that into the ground, and is now a CEO? Well, if you're going to fail, fail upwards.
    Dude is like the perfect villain.

    • @eyewaves...
      @eyewaves... 2 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      Perfect and hilarious comments..

    • @ed-te1fp
      @ed-te1fp 2 ปีที่แล้ว +126

      That way of thinking is pretty common nowadays. A few failed businesses and bankruptcies? Hey, let's make him President of the United States.

    • @VenomousCompany
      @VenomousCompany 2 ปีที่แล้ว +41

      @@ed-te1fp Can't speak 3 straight sentences? The Perfect Man for the President of the United States! ahhh Joe Biden.

    • @ed-te1fp
      @ed-te1fp 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      ​@Bilal Khalid Yeah the whole thing is sad to watch. MU was debt-free and doing well. Then these Americans show up and pay several hundred million of fake "paper money" to take it over then put the entire debt on MU. Was never their money to begin with, but the debts are real. MU's still over half a billion in debt... And not even going to talk about the terrible football decisions they made...

    • @barahng
      @barahng 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@ed-te1fp A few failed....out of literally hundreds that were profitable. Always conveniently leave out that bit of nuance. There are plenty of things to criticize him for but that's not one of them. Most successful entrepreneurs have a few failures their belt. Mark Cuban is one example who has a similar net worth today.

  • @henryaung7229
    @henryaung7229 ปีที่แล้ว +51

    That whole bank (like Leeson) seemed to be in positions they weren't fully qualified for, and mistook surviving for success and business savvy.
    I'm sure most of us who work can feel similarly sometimes but it's worrying to think that situation is probably the same for the people in positions of influence and power.

  • @LA-fr7fx
    @LA-fr7fx ปีที่แล้ว +22

    What Nick says - "bumbling fools" applies to much of senior and executive management in many companies. The executives do not understand the business they run.

  • @adamspimbly4706
    @adamspimbly4706 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1645

    Listening to Leeson saying that his employers were "stupid, they don't understand the business, and they should never have been in the position they were in" has the most hilarious sense of unintentional irony to it I've ever seen.

    • @basedpatriotLT
      @basedpatriotLT 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Being dish8nwst/scammer does not necessary make him stupid, h3 could still be wwy smarter than those colleagues

    • @adamspimbly4706
      @adamspimbly4706 2 ปีที่แล้ว +271

      @@basedpatriotLT this is a guy claiming all the people above him shouldn’t have been in the jobs they were in.
      Meanwhile he spends years desperately trying to be a trader. Then as a trader he lost over £100million in the space of a few years. He is perhaps the biggest failure of a trader ever seen...so he isn’t exactly one to point fingers at incompetence

    • @r.sakarollsafe1285
      @r.sakarollsafe1285 2 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      @@adamspimbly4706 the main difference was his superior stopped when they got their seats, and he continued showcasing his incompetence through his "trading brilliance". I just wondered where did he felt the wealth? When every cent goes to cover his loses. Maybe he shaved the budget each time he received something.

    • @MrSpartanspud
      @MrSpartanspud 2 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      He lied in ways that, by his own admission, were ludicrous and unbelievable. The reason he was believed was because the bosses were idiots.

    • @AdamWhistle1
      @AdamWhistle1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +41

      Yet I cannot help but think that he's not completely wrong: he HAS fooled his bosses and it is likely that a 200 year old bank selected leadership position more along to lines of family and friends connections (the "right breeding" because this is Britain) rather than competence. Had it been otherwise, he would have not been able to single-handedly bring down the entire bank.

  • @princepscivitatis4083
    @princepscivitatis4083 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1721

    When Leeson made back the £10,000,000 by sitting on his position, he basically traversed through a minefield, unscathed, with his eyes closed. So, Leeson thought the best and only way to traverse through such minefields unscathed was with his eyes closed. It was only a matter of time until the whole damn thing blew up in his face.
    Also fun fact: Barings was nearly run under by a similar trader based in South America during the early 1900s. His name was also Nick.

    • @789know
      @789know 2 ปีที่แล้ว +128

      So the disaster is going to happen soon or later then if company didn't learn its lesson before

    • @spankwish
      @spankwish 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      @@789know gold 💀 🤣🤣

    • @elizabethmolino8262
      @elizabethmolino8262 2 ปีที่แล้ว +58

      So this same thing happened to Barings in the 1900s and it happened again with a dude named Nick.Ain't it have a term for that ,doing same thing over .Oh yeah its called insanity.

    • @TheCrazierz
      @TheCrazierz 2 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      @@elizabethmolino8262 bro, early 1900s and 90s are literally 90 years apart. A good 2 or 3 generations. I highly doubt anyone wad around for both situations

    • @TheCrazierz
      @TheCrazierz 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      @@789know who learned this lesson? Between 90 years, there's a good 2 or 3 generations of employees. It would be like expecting a modern mcdonalds guy to know some Mcdonald menu items from 1960s

  • @markianclark9645
    @markianclark9645 ปีที่แล้ว +72

    As a born and bred North Londoner...I watched this unfold in the news every day for weeks...I can't imagine being the most hated person in England...it's bad enough I was unloved and unwanted by my mother...but I managed to get through life without causing even a ripple...I had a lot of jobs though...at around same age as Leeson here 28 I had 7 jobs in 1 year...I wasn't trusted with a stapler let alone hundreds of millions...

    • @miaferrari958
      @miaferrari958 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Why you gotta break my heart like that with that comment about your mother, sir? :(

    • @mensax8054
      @mensax8054 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I bet the stapler would’ve been stolen by you if given the chance

  • @Connorthecatsdad
    @Connorthecatsdad ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Leeson: "you can trust me to properly move around hundreds of millions of dollars"
    Also Leeson: "why would they trust me to move around hundreds of millions of dollars?"

  • @kungfuridinghood
    @kungfuridinghood 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1805

    It's the double-down that breaks my heart, if he was a stable and rational person he would have taken the cake back to a cosy position in the bank and eaten it there knowing he did something incredible. Clearly he was more of a professional gambling addict than someone interested in finance and making money.

    • @Ndlanding
      @Ndlanding 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@poodymeiner3125 Except when you double it, and then you are on the road to perdition.

    • @carloscampos5860
      @carloscampos5860 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      That part baffles me, Barings would probably exist and even he coild be a top execute there, it would probably been the perfect crime.

    • @stevenfallinge7149
      @stevenfallinge7149 2 ปีที่แล้ว +42

      But if he wasn't caught, nobody would know about it, this video would not exist, and you would not be here commenting about it.

    • @Ndlanding
      @Ndlanding 2 ปีที่แล้ว +38

      @@stevenfallinge7149 What makes you think I'm really here?

    • @lorumipsum1129
      @lorumipsum1129 2 ปีที่แล้ว +46

      He was acting like he was someone on r/wallstreetbets.

  • @NastierNate
    @NastierNate 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3641

    As someone who works in banking, I have never seen a trader decline to go out for drinks. That was the red flag right there.

    • @notmenotme614
      @notmenotme614 2 ปีที่แล้ว +500

      There’s an Italian saying....
      "Whoever doesn't drink in company is either a thief or a spy."

    • @rodleypumpkins4174
      @rodleypumpkins4174 2 ปีที่แล้ว +292

      Some people don’t drink wouldn’t be weird to me.

    • @annaleonie2731
      @annaleonie2731 2 ปีที่แล้ว +315

      I've always had a policy of not mixing alcohol and work colleagues. Too easy to send less than spectacular messages to people who matter.

    • @thetruthk5138
      @thetruthk5138 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      Perhaps he was a friend of Bill W

    • @wernerbeinhart2320
      @wernerbeinhart2320 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      @@annaleonie2731 this

  • @TeamYELLOW17
    @TeamYELLOW17 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    This guy is an absolute piece of work.

    • @no_one699
      @no_one699 หลายเดือนก่อน

      You misspelled $hit as work

  • @gabrieleea2789
    @gabrieleea2789 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    I remembered this case when he was arrested and repatriated to Singapore 🇸🇬. It was a case in everyone's mind.

  • @kisaragi-hiu
    @kisaragi-hiu 2 ปีที่แล้ว +471

    He basically YOLO'd away a 200 year old bank.

    • @MrSumkinFedor
      @MrSumkinFedor 2 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      yeeted

    • @DrJimmy93
      @DrJimmy93 2 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      Kind of funny really, if lots of people hadn't lost jobs and their money

    • @endrikastrati1755
      @endrikastrati1755 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Sir, you nailed it.

    • @kx65andyx85rider
      @kx65andyx85rider 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Mans should’ve bought GME 0 dte calls 50% OTM hahahaha

    • @jaychung1380
      @jaychung1380 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@DrJimmy93 leeson probably never even gave them a courtesy apology haha

  • @TechnoBots1
    @TechnoBots1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2348

    I like how he called the bankers idiots yet he failed miserably as a trader. Guess he was right, the bank hired idiots lol.

    • @TechnoBots1
      @TechnoBots1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +102

      @hognoxious I said he was right...

    • @johnysnowy35
      @johnysnowy35 2 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      Idiots hire idiots...

    • @therzook
      @therzook 2 ปีที่แล้ว +51

      He failed on trading which is difficult, accountancy and auditing are only mundane ops they really must have been idiots tbh...

    • @joelwillems4081
      @joelwillems4081 2 ปีที่แล้ว +57

      @Avaint TF He equally only sometimes succeeded on trading based on random luck. Yes, he was and still is an idiot. He later couldn't manage the finances of an Irish football club. Now he makes money by giving speeches on why companies have to be wary of crooks like himself. Half of his wages for life should be taken away to make up for his criminal behavior. Instead, he's making a career out of it.

    • @Shatter84
      @Shatter84 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      ​@@therzook I was reading he had a doudbling strategy i.e. he was just doubling down each time to try and recoup his losses... Trading but might be hard but Leeson was clearly a terrible trader and an idiot himself.

  • @jupitired777
    @jupitired777 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    6 and a half years only is crazy. That's insane.

  • @42k78
    @42k78 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    I think you have the best looking and sounding youtube videos. Your content is amazing also but it's those little things that makes me want to rewatch episodes over and over. After watching your Enron episode, I bought The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McClean and have been weirdly interested in finance and fraud. Thanks for the good stuff. You helped me kill cable.

  • @JohnDoe-xp4iy
    @JohnDoe-xp4iy 2 ปีที่แล้ว +426

    Imagine bringing down an entire bank, one that’s been around for centuries, and getting free after 4 years. That’s fucking wild.

    • @joshuapatrick682
      @joshuapatrick682 2 ปีที่แล้ว +104

      yet having a bag of weed in Singapore would get you a life sentence.

    • @on-site4094
      @on-site4094 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Sounds like he has a massive EGO. & No crystal ball 🔮 in the USA it would of gotten bailed out

    • @plung3r
      @plung3r 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      That's what made me surprised. Just 4 years ?! I mean people would be ready to gamble their way if they see the punishment is soft.

    • @FsimulatorX
      @FsimulatorX 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      And then appearing on a TV show

    • @OGrandomunknownperson
      @OGrandomunknownperson 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      It's an elitist bank he is a legend a cunning smart trickster who harms rich idiots and he spent his money on the homeless and his wife so yeah

  • @paraboo8994
    @paraboo8994 2 ปีที่แล้ว +836

    It's insane to think a bank would give a single employee three quarters of their money.
    No matter how good that guy may be, you need to hedge your bets at least a little bit.

    • @discoboy8169
      @discoboy8169 2 ปีที่แล้ว +46

      totally crazy, it is their own stupidity, lack of scepticism, control and the culture.

    • @ooooneeee
      @ooooneeee 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      They didn't give him that, they failed to prevent him from taking it. Lack of auditing and controlling.

    • @jeanmyers1787
      @jeanmyers1787 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Especially considering their high end clients & the interest they were paying. They were an elitist bank, like Coutts, their clients needing at time minimum current account of £3k

    • @PatrickMcAsey
      @PatrickMcAsey ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Absolutely. You would think that they might have learnt something from the mess that Leeson had to clear up in Jakarta, but apparently they had learnt nothing.

    • @hendo337
      @hendo337 ปีที่แล้ว

      Exactly the story doesn't makes sense because it's a lie.

  • @sa6ab
    @sa6ab 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Very good video! I was planning to watch a few to get a good picture of the case but this one was really thorough and the only one I need :)

  • @peggydadaille8801
    @peggydadaille8801 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I worked for Baring Securities in NY during the time this occurred and it had been a great place to work! It's surreal to see it on youtube.

  • @joshuasmith4315
    @joshuasmith4315 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2049

    "He saw his coworkers as a means to an end"
    Welcome to the entire financial industry bruv.

    • @Panteni87
      @Panteni87 2 ปีที่แล้ว +117

      small correction: the entire corporate culture

    • @wernerbeinhart2320
      @wernerbeinhart2320 2 ปีที่แล้ว +77

      @@Panteni87 Correction: Almost all of society bar very few exceptions

    • @waverider1674
      @waverider1674 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      what the top management actually thinks of the professionals working under them

    • @Panteni87
      @Panteni87 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@waverider1674 the worker bees aren't much better

    • @argh100100
      @argh100100 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@wernerbeinhart2320 Is that what you tell yourself to justify your own behavior?

  • @aleenbaruah8116
    @aleenbaruah8116 2 ปีที่แล้ว +264

    The guy at MorganStanley was a legend basically for having the intuition for future disaster

  • @shamyeezy349
    @shamyeezy349 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Love your content gets me thru my work break

  • @petergambier
    @petergambier ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Nicely explained story thanks CF.
    Funniest quote from Leeson, 'There's no Barings in Watford.'

  • @AudsVids
    @AudsVids 2 ปีที่แล้ว +555

    Worked in corporate banking for 10 years and we had to take a two week block of leave so that anything wrong we might be doing would show up. We were told it was because of what happened at Barings so you wouldn't be there to hide/cover up/fix stuff. Doesn't stop people trying it, one UK employee went to jail for theft.

    • @mockyhotmail
      @mockyhotmail ปีที่แล้ว +65

      I work in finance and we have to take block leave for at least 5-10 days in a row and we're not allowed to log in to the system, go into the office or phone in or email anyone and you can't be contacted either. It's magic.

    • @StCreed
      @StCreed ปีที่แล้ว +35

      One of the first signs of trouble is often when someone doesn't want to take holidays. It's really a huge red flag.

    • @scroogemcduckrich9705
      @scroogemcduckrich9705 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      same on 2 weeks

    • @1998rg
      @1998rg ปีที่แล้ว +3

      We still have those two weeks :) ~ mandatory holidays ~

    • @brianal7143
      @brianal7143 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      The financial institution I work for still has this policy. Annual leave

  • @nonyabisness6306
    @nonyabisness6306 2 ปีที่แล้ว +702

    "He thought he was a genius, but it was only dumb luck" This describes Stock Traders is general pretty well.

    • @JPKnapp-ro6xm
      @JPKnapp-ro6xm 2 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      "Never mistake a rising market for genius."

    • @brinckau
      @brinckau ปีที่แล้ว +15

      Thousands of people thought they were geniuses because they bought some bitcoin in 2019.

    • @kuro9410_ilust
      @kuro9410_ilust ปีที่แล้ว

      stock market is basically a giant ponzi and gambling house convolutedly taped together

    • @artboy789
      @artboy789 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@brinckau call it shitcoin

    • @texasray5237
      @texasray5237 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Dumb luck doesn't make millions of pounds disappear from within the banking industry.

  • @jackotherstar3982
    @jackotherstar3982 ปีที่แล้ว +34

    Just noticed this after my millionth watch through of this video but when Dagogo talks about Wall Street and NYC in ‘94 he uses footage that not only looks old but also is old since it has the Trade Towers in it. A nice touch I noticed and shows how much work he puts into his videos.

    • @Failure_Is_An_Option
      @Failure_Is_An_Option ปีที่แล้ว

      2011 is not old kid.

    • @jacqueline746
      @jacqueline746 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@Failure_Is_An_Option 2001* is old in comparison to how much footage there has been since then, and how much it's advanced

  • @tophersan1459
    @tophersan1459 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This is profound insight and a real life cautionary tale. Checks and balances are out in place so that game and profit doesn’t infect the integrity.

  • @BocuD
    @BocuD 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2838

    So.. basically a wallstreetbets member before reddit existed

    • @SteliosMusic
      @SteliosMusic 2 ปีที่แล้ว +71

      Exactly what I wanted to comment. GUH

    • @Erin-bd6jg
      @Erin-bd6jg 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      We have winner, folks

    • @Praisethesunson
      @Praisethesunson 2 ปีที่แล้ว +34

      @@SteliosMusic Leeson went past the banks personal risk tolerance

    • @2hedz77
      @2hedz77 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I'm not with wallstreetbets, but there are some dumb af, some brilliant

    • @AlphaCentauri24
      @AlphaCentauri24 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Someone got burned! 😁

  • @RideTheTrack
    @RideTheTrack 2 ปีที่แล้ว +338

    I was just a teenager in singapore as I watched this story develop in real time. It was MASSIVE news on local TV at the time. thank you for revisiting this for me!

    • @enam98
      @enam98 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      Wow you have some great memory!

  • @talesfromprincesajesa
    @talesfromprincesajesa ปีที่แล้ว

    These videos are so addictive! Thanks for making

  • @josh8006
    @josh8006 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    You guys do outstanding work, great video ColdFusion!!!

  • @conorstapleton3183
    @conorstapleton3183 2 ปีที่แล้ว +674

    Anarchists: "DESTROY THE BANKS!!!!"
    28y old Trader: "Say no more."

    • @matthew4497
      @matthew4497 2 ปีที่แล้ว +39

      Makes me wonder if the other traders in Singapore knew how terrible he was and bet against him, compounding his losses.

    • @johnsherman7289
      @johnsherman7289 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@matthew4497 That works, they all have the same mind-set.

    • @TahtahmesDiary
      @TahtahmesDiary 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Lmao class solidarity ✊🏾♥️

    • @farhanniloy7552
      @farhanniloy7552 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      I have seen how banks work and trust me i dont mind being an anarchist
      you either be a part of the system or cant do anyting

    • @Otzkar
      @Otzkar 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      🏴🚩

  • @cdprince768
    @cdprince768 2 ปีที่แล้ว +392

    "How a Team of Horrifically Incompetent Auditors Destroyed England’s Oldest Bank." Fixed.

    • @thePronto
      @thePronto 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      "Nothing to see here at Enron!" Arthur Andersen, auditor.

  • @SkyWidows
    @SkyWidows ปีที่แล้ว +14

    This guy lived in the same estate as me in Galway, customer in the shop I worked in too. Would barely look at me let alone say hello. Really weird feeling when I was watching Rogue Trader for the first time; one of my favourite actors portraying one of my neighbours, who brought down one of the biggest banks in history!

  • @CrakenFlux
    @CrakenFlux ปีที่แล้ว

    Good work, great information in here, thank you.

  • @shotelco
    @shotelco 2 ปีที่แล้ว +493

    "Forged a Bank loan document with scissors & glue"?? My 3rd grade teacher would have spotted that with the "eyes in the back of her head".

    • @DarkSharingan21
      @DarkSharingan21 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Lmao

    • @kmwong1786
      @kmwong1786 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      In the previous century, documents are send by facsimile. What comes out at the other end is usually difficult to read. I can imagine that his cut and paste work is unnoticed.

    • @ionut-cristianratoi7692
      @ionut-cristianratoi7692 2 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      Don't forget the part where he had the fax/printer name on the document. Like WTF did those auditors do? They were send specifically for him. They should have been suspicious from the beginning. He was right in one regard, they had allot of incompetents in the company.

    • @01DOGG01
      @01DOGG01 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I did the same thing in highschool in the 90s with a report for my parents except I used my tongue instead of glue as I was in a rush. They were none the wiser

    • @shotelco
      @shotelco 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@kmwong1786 Even in the previous century, An Auditors Job Duties were to Ensure compliance with established internal control procedures by *examining records, reports, operating practices, and documentation.* keyword: _Examine._ Since they already stumbled upon the £50M loss, then they just accepted a faxed document without doing one second of forensic accounting to investigate?

  • @wrongthinker843
    @wrongthinker843 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Glad to see you sometimes cover scammers getting destroyed 👍

  • @shastasilverchairsg
    @shastasilverchairsg ปีที่แล้ว +1

    As a (admittedly young) Singaporean, seeing all the people in huge glasses around 5:42 give me serious retro vibes.

  • @simony2801
    @simony2801 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1780

    At the end Leeson brags and says his boss didn’t understand derivatives, seen as he lost 2 billion of the banks money perhaps he didn’t either.

    • @joelmonteiro1419
      @joelmonteiro1419 2 ปีที่แล้ว +163

      This. Saying that with a stright face...what a massive asshole.

    • @user-vv1do1wg1j
      @user-vv1do1wg1j 2 ปีที่แล้ว +91

      he was a giga chad
      collapsing massive banks

    • @user-vv1do1wg1j
      @user-vv1do1wg1j 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@joelmonteiro1419 seething

    • @orionxtc1119
      @orionxtc1119 2 ปีที่แล้ว +84

      he is a psychopath

    • @ericbrandt829
      @ericbrandt829 2 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      @@orionxtc1119 ....as are most bankers and financial market traders....please go on....

  • @veritas41photo
    @veritas41photo 2 ปีที่แล้ว +308

    Watch enough of these Cold Fusion episodes, and you'll soon lose confidence in absolutely every corporate entity in the entire world. Which, come to think of it, is a pretty valid modern-day strategy!

    • @abebuckingham8198
      @abebuckingham8198 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      I think of corporations as being as competent as the government but they aren't public entities so we don't see their incompetence as visibly.

    • @placeholderdoe
      @placeholderdoe ปีที่แล้ว

      People have always been dumb, now it’s just easier to hurt people while being dumb

    • @MrMambott
      @MrMambott ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Corporate entity AND PERSON,, I'm Now scared to leave the house tomorrow after binge-watching about 7 hours of Con Artists, I noticed a theme being played among the younger entrepreneurs,, I'm going to be guarding the $10 in my wallet all day tomorrow with an eagle eye patrolling for cons artists out to steal my fortune 🧐🧐

    • @Heyu7her3
      @Heyu7her3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@MrMambott your mattress might be a safe bet as well

  • @50alexrod
    @50alexrod ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Twenty years after, the focus of your mini documentary is based on the person as it should be. He wrote also two books. First originally named 5 eights account, soon turned to Rogue Trader and was the raw material for the script of the movie with Ewan MacGregor. Second book, about his time in prison, divorce and cancer survival shows the world that he may be a derivatives trader but mostly an actor. He was an inflection point in development of internal control and compliance.

  • @shayanakhter2090
    @shayanakhter2090 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome content, the start " You are watching cold fusion tv" is a great intro. Keep it up

  • @kabelo2
    @kabelo2 2 ปีที่แล้ว +205

    The most unbelievable information about this video is that this man was 28 years old

    • @elizabethmolino8262
      @elizabethmolino8262 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      For real

    • @907living6
      @907living6 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Shit some 28 year olds been navy seals for 10 years been on 3 deployments traveled the world and killed dozens. 28 is a fuck ton time to live

    • @kabelo2
      @kabelo2 2 ปีที่แล้ว +46

      @@907living6 and he hasn’t experienced any of that but looked 40 at 28 years old

    • @nainatalwar8050
      @nainatalwar8050 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@kabelo2 🔳 SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE COLD FUSION

    • @Canleaf08
      @Canleaf08 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Almost still a teenager...

  • @Big_Tex
    @Big_Tex 2 ปีที่แล้ว +176

    This happened so long ago, making that fake fax involved actual cutting and actual pasting 🤣

  • @RhoFGC
    @RhoFGC 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    I honestly kind of agree with the guy, he really was out there betting it all with no oversight from the bank, that's pretty nuts.

  • @whateva8964
    @whateva8964 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Barings sent one man 75% of their working capital? The lack of internal controls to have noticed and raised a huge red flag is astonishing.

    • @souvikrc4499
      @souvikrc4499 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It also goes to show how much blind trust the bank placed in him.

  • @joaovitorino662
    @joaovitorino662 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2660

    Imagine for a second being able to throw away 2 billion dollars and only be given 4 years of (probably very soft) prison.
    Meanwhile people are locked up in basically zoos for life because they had weed on them.
    Insane.

    • @redhammer92
      @redhammer92 2 ปีที่แล้ว +289

      Man its almost like the system is made to keep the small small and the big big.

    • @prepperjonpnw6482
      @prepperjonpnw6482 2 ปีที่แล้ว +76

      If he served his prison sentence in Singapore then it most definitely wasn’t “soft”. Imagine being locked up with a thousand or more criminals of all sorts and not speaking the language.

    • @mishayt1989
      @mishayt1989 2 ปีที่แล้ว +32

      @@prepperjonpnw6482 He probably knew some Singapore language

    • @johngrave5554
      @johngrave5554 2 ปีที่แล้ว +118

      @@mishayt1989 also it's Singapore, most criminals are not vicious violent criminals from gangs, and a lot of them know English too.

    • @_RobBanks
      @_RobBanks 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      No ones going to prison for life because of some weed, but I get ur point

  • @MercenaryBlackWaterz
    @MercenaryBlackWaterz 2 ปีที่แล้ว +474

    The bank thought they had a new Leeson life, but they were actually losing their Barings...

  • @Greg-fl4cb
    @Greg-fl4cb ปีที่แล้ว

    Very informative. Thanks!

  • @beatonthedonis
    @beatonthedonis ปีที่แล้ว +3

    "Today Barings exists only as a cautionary tale, a lesson to banks across the globe that accountability and careful oversight comes before blind trust and the thrill of profit, and a reminder to longstanding institutions that nothing is eternal".
    Lehman Brothers exits the chat.

  • @stevencooke6451
    @stevencooke6451 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2169

    A classic sociopath. Absolutely no regret or sense of empathy for people who suffered because of the frauds he perpetuated. Yes, he's probably right in his dismissive attitude towards Barings' executives and staff who never questioned what he was going, but he is unable to see what he did was wrong. And he didn't really pay for it.

    • @mission101
      @mission101 2 ปีที่แล้ว +43

      @@DunDeeoZ your comparison to people dying in Nicaragua or in my country is not equivalent. The original comment was about the fact that he caused those people to suffer, it was his actions. Your comparison works if it was my actions that caused those 100 people to die or whatever, because then I am actually responsible and should feel remorse for what I’ve done. If I have no connection then of course I have no reason to feel much

    • @williambrasky3891
      @williambrasky3891 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@DunDeeoZYou need to slow down and think about what you are blabbering about. Apples and oranges? Both round fruits.

    • @georgelabe-assimo4365
      @georgelabe-assimo4365 2 ปีที่แล้ว +33

      That was my instant thought the moment they talked about how this guy used his colleagues like tools. Big red flag.

    • @rashid8646
      @rashid8646 2 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      you can see it in his face and mannerisms. Had a teacher like that once, total prick.

    • @yfn6660
      @yfn6660 2 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      The guy knew what he wanted, he knew how to get it (apart from the whole being a competent trader) and in the end was just another trader who didn't know when to stop. Clearly not the genius everyone made him out to be

  • @ionaf9
    @ionaf9 2 ปีที่แล้ว +224

    I reluctantly have to agree that there were some 'bumbling idiots' as they kept approving the amounts he requested. This truly happens in so many organisations it's insane.

    • @jondoe406
      @jondoe406 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      He actively deceived them by hiding losses and faking profits. That doesn't make them idiots.

    • @semperaugustus661
      @semperaugustus661 ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@jondoe406 Giving 75% of your capital to one futures trader makes you an idiot. The bank's lack of oversight and general operational management is astounding.

    • @souvikrc4499
      @souvikrc4499 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@YourLocalCafe not to mention bank management ignored some red flags that were thrown up by those who are working with Lesson. As mentioned in the video, management was willing to turn a blind eye, as long as Leeson continued making massive profits.

    • @tk9839
      @tk9839 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jondoe406 Obviously the managers at Barings were in denial blinded by profit and greed...this happens to a lot of people...a common human weakness which will always exist.

    • @JasonRobards2
      @JasonRobards2 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      In a company who has known long periods of stability it is difficult to raise the alarm about serious issues. Why risk your career by making statements that go against the grain?

  • @prnfl
    @prnfl ปีที่แล้ว

    i work in singapore at raffles place where his office was (that whole block has since been demolished), nobody has heard of nick leeson there but there's still a barings holdings office

  • @lesflynn4455
    @lesflynn4455 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I remember Nick Leeson's name ffrom when this happened. Thanks for finally explaining it so I now understand how it happened. What a trip.

  • @kittymcditty8960
    @kittymcditty8960 2 ปีที่แล้ว +764

    According to Wiki: "Between 2005 and 2011, Leeson had senior management roles at League of Ireland club Galway United. After the club suffered financial difficulties he resigned from his position as chief executive officer." Why would anyone hire this man in any sort of financial capacity??? Lol.

    • @danny148mb
      @danny148mb 2 ปีที่แล้ว +86

      League of Ireland is disgustingly corrupt. So birds of a feather

    • @raumshen9298
      @raumshen9298 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      Moral bankruptcy

    • @edwardoleyba3075
      @edwardoleyba3075 2 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      @@raumshen9298 . And utter Greed.

    • @TrueFilter
      @TrueFilter 2 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      Ha i remember that. Also I'm pretty sure he had a financial advice column in the local paper

    • @oliver4693
      @oliver4693 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      LOL

  • @mergedwithgod
    @mergedwithgod 2 ปีที่แล้ว +359

    Your work is great and ultra-consistent!! We love it

    • @srinivasskumarmk4456
      @srinivasskumarmk4456 ปีที่แล้ว

      That's what barings thought about leeson 😂😂😂 famous last words

  • @johnnymartinjohansen
    @johnnymartinjohansen ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Leeson about Barings: "they're stupid" and "they had a lot of idiots basically in every one of the controlling functions".
    I completely agree.

  • @MKultra81
    @MKultra81 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    4 years... holy shit. People go to jail for a much longer time without destroying thousands of peoples savings.

  • @aldrichuyliong8143
    @aldrichuyliong8143 2 ปีที่แล้ว +568

    Watching Leeson's interviews is like peering into the mind of a sociopath.
    EDIT: As a lot of people have pointed out Leeson is a psychopath rather than a sociopath. Thanks to those who cleared it up in the comments. 😊

    • @SoDodgy
      @SoDodgy 2 ปีที่แล้ว +53

      My thoughts exactly. Zero empathy for what he'd done

    • @mauroferrao8857
      @mauroferrao8857 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      💯

    • @dushiemcbag
      @dushiemcbag 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      Agreed, its like a human manifestation of the actual laws that protected him.

    • @n3gi_
      @n3gi_ 2 ปีที่แล้ว +42

      Nah, he's a psychopath not a sociopath. Sociopaths are more aggressive and can't maintain a calm state of mind like psychopaths.

    • @zachariahstovall1744
      @zachariahstovall1744 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      He's still a person and he's only doing what felt natural.

  • @theshadowman1398
    @theshadowman1398 2 ปีที่แล้ว +197

    It's a never-ending story with banks. Once every several years they commit the same crimes and get away with it.

    • @Greg-yu4ij
      @Greg-yu4ij 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Yup. All that fraud probably hid millions which went to the auditors to cover for him. Imagine countless fraudulent documents, 200 million stolen, being a fugitive, and only spending 4 years in prison. Meanwhile in the USA they try and put old ladies in prison for the rest of their lives for tresspassing. Must be nice to be in the good old boys club

    • @shakiMiki
      @shakiMiki 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      That's not accurate. These kinds of things happen in certain jurisdictions & under certain regulators. London is particularly notorious. The banks may be from all over the world, but it is there where the catastrophic losses take place.

    • @swampy1234
      @swampy1234 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It's so true

    • @moranii1843
      @moranii1843 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      This just a random facebook rant? Leeson scammed a bank causing it to go bankrupt. What was the crime the bank committed?

    • @theshadowman1398
      @theshadowman1398 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@moranii1843
      Bank is made up off certain people. The bank gives certain mentality

  • @leileyaravencroft
    @leileyaravencroft ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Quite enjoyed this episode.
    On an aside, I know absolutely nothing about banking, financials, or the stock market. However, I don't think the bank management knew either and that's pretty impressive since they absolutely should have. Of course, hindsight is, as they say, 20/20, the red flags were obviously there if management had actually cared to pay attention. The obvious red flags should have been: his blatant dislike of bankers. No matter how hard someone tries to hide their dislike for someone, you can't fake it in your eyes or expressions when talking to colleagues.
    The fact that they didn't do any background check I freely admit that perhaps that isn't something that is commonly done in the UK but... he had a resume... did they not think to... call around? Why on EARTH would they hire someone to be a stock broker with no prior education and no prior experience in exchanging of stocks? And finally, what made me realize that the bank's management was completely incompetent was the fact that he kept asking them to send him money (could have been a daily thing, a weekly thing, or only monthly) but why would they give it to him without asking to see the data?
    On top of all of that... when an internal audit is requested, the auditer did not properly do his job either. Just because on the surface it appeared that he was making the bank money, that shouldn't have mattered in the slightest during an AUDIT. Audits are extremely time consuming, pretty thorough, and should have most definitely exposed him as a fraud. Especially if he was constantly asking for large sums of money and I don't care how much money he was making the bank, the fact that he was doing it so often should have been at the very least looked into. When they handed him that final payment, I was actually totally blown away. Was it 60% of the banks funds?
    So as arrogant as he is, management absolutely failed anyone and everyone who trusted them with their hard earned money. Although it wasn't mentioned I do hope that the management got absolutely reemed and arrested to.

  • @LuigiMordelAlaume
    @LuigiMordelAlaume 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    This guy was r/wallstreetbets in human form. He literally pulled off a yolo dgaf options trade. The man was just ahead of his time.

  • @kmzzify
    @kmzzify 2 ปีที่แล้ว +237

    This has been my favourite TV channel for years now.

    • @Saxoul
      @Saxoul 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Colfusion is #1, i used to love the daily conversation but he disappeared

    • @Saxoul
      @Saxoul 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I also have 2 signed hoodies of new thinking, one white and the other is navy

    • @nainatalwar8050
      @nainatalwar8050 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      🟦 SERCH ADITYA RATHORE, HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE COLD FUSION

    • @prashantkumarsingh8121
      @prashantkumarsingh8121 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Haan bhai, accha channel hai.

  • @alexanderslater4021
    @alexanderslater4021 2 ปีที่แล้ว +40

    The way Peter Norris shuffles around uncomfortably during the interview at 18:35 is gold

    • @deg6788
      @deg6788 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      True

    • @rezawicaksono4753
      @rezawicaksono4753 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      from my eyes, he is covering someone

  • @ashypharaoh8407
    @ashypharaoh8407 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Gotta say his is the most epic perp walk I've ever seen

  • @domenicsandri2740
    @domenicsandri2740 ปีที่แล้ว +84

    The fact he doesn’t take responsibility for DECEIVING his employer, no matter how simple it was that the proper analysis of his submissions by his employer could possibly have found his deceptions, is not an excuse for his made deceptions, especially of the fact he continued deceiving.
    He obviously has no remorse, so he should have had a very stiff penalty, not an easy penalty, which he did.

    • @tensemurm5924
      @tensemurm5924 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@alexandraocsovan9580 I disagree. He describes one side of successful people in business - the talker. Most of the top people know how to talk to anyone about anything and get what they want. Seems he can do that, or at least if he finds the right audience.
      But they also generally have something to offer, and are highly skilled as well. That's not the case for him. He only managed to get away with it due to incompetence from others, not because he was brilliant. And he didn't seem to have any other skills - hence why he was passed over at Morgan Stanley

    • @Allthedifferentcheeses
      @Allthedifferentcheeses ปีที่แล้ว

      @@tensemurm5924 what has any of that piffle got to do with his unwillingness to accept any responsibility. You might fail to lock your doors at night but if you get robbed that's still down to the robber.

    • @tensemurm5924
      @tensemurm5924 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Redacted What are you talking about? I was replying to a comment which got deleted, I never said anything about taking responsibility.

    • @domenicsandri2740
      @domenicsandri2740 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@tensemurm5924he was just a conman. Making up lies about his work of which he was employed to do. Yes, his submitted work wasn’t checked but it’s not an excuse to get away with it.
      I don’t know what statement you were replying to but I see no value in what he did. Why? It’s because it’s based on lies which are clearly not real and not based in reality.

    • @tensemurm5924
      @tensemurm5924 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@domenicsandri2740 The other reply was essentially saying that if the guy had gone legit, he likely would have been a top businessman because all the top business people are charismatic and some other shit.
      My point was that top businessmen are usually charismatic/talkers, but they also have skills and something to offer. This guy is a talker, but he didn't have anything to offer so he wouldn't have been successful without lying (hence why he was repeatedly rejected).

  • @Big_Tex
    @Big_Tex 2 ปีที่แล้ว +158

    OMG “Rogue Trader” is a great book, I’ve read it at least 3 times. Really brings you into the grinding sense of doom as the guy spent 2 years digging himself deeper into a hole day after day expecting to be caught out any minute.

    • @icarusflying1814
      @icarusflying1814 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It’s akin to a method of fraud called Teeming & Lading

    • @beev
      @beev 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I prefer 'The Collapse of Barings" - more accurate imo (given my direct experience/knowledge of what happened)

    • @JA-tr9ze
      @JA-tr9ze 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Same deal with Bernie Madoff if you read any books on him. He spent decades living day after day that he would get caught. When he thought he had been just like this guy some odd luck due to incompetence.

    • @scality4309
      @scality4309 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I have that book. Also have the DVD.

    • @Big_Tex
      @Big_Tex 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@beev thanks, I’ve had that book on my wish list, I’ll get it soon.

  • @IsleOfFeldspar
    @IsleOfFeldspar 2 ปีที่แล้ว +157

    A local savings bank took 5 years to tell me that I still owed $1800 on a voluntary vehicle repossession from 2013. When I told them that this is shockingly poor management of your books they said it had fallen through the cracks and ‘we’re starting to catch up with these’. These? How many does the word ‘these’ represent? How many people owe you money from years ago?

    • @LIONTAMER3D
      @LIONTAMER3D ปีที่แล้ว +12

      It's a legal matter: bank A buys bank B, and that means bank A has to wait for legal transfer of assets & liabilities before they can trade those assets or collecting those debts; the ones that used to belong to bank B. If bank C comes along & buys bank A, bank C has to wait for the B to A transfer before they can execute their own transfer of C assets. In an era of mergers & acquisitions, this process can not only take years, it can be effectively perpetual.

    • @TahtahmesDiary
      @TahtahmesDiary ปีที่แล้ว +13

      In some industries it’s always the customers fault. Banks, airlines, etc. They couldn’t care less literally.

    • @MusehanaH
      @MusehanaH ปีที่แล้ว +6

      In South Africa, if no one contacts you for 3 years or longer, by law the debt prescribes automatically...as long as you do not acknowledge it

    • @ronaldwilliams4053
      @ronaldwilliams4053 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Lol they said somebody gonna pay us so they made up some bs lol

    • @LIONTAMER3D
      @LIONTAMER3D ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ronaldwilliams4053 that's precisely how the meeting went

  • @ManMilff
    @ManMilff 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Ahhh take me somewhere nice. Its great when you can ID a song randomly
    Great video and great sound track

  • @jamesqwerty131
    @jamesqwerty131 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I really enjoyed this one thank you

  • @nathasyapramudita6312
    @nathasyapramudita6312 2 ปีที่แล้ว +103

    "If it's making us money, dont fix it." Woah, saying like a true banker XD

    • @ivan-Croatian
      @ivan-Croatian 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Right back in their faces!! 🤣🤣

    • @SofaKingShit
      @SofaKingShit 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's perhaps like Deutschebank and Pablo Escobar. Apparently it's hard to notice who is sitting over the table when there's mountains of money getting in the way.

  • @meligoth
    @meligoth 2 ปีที่แล้ว +45

    The Dunning-Kreuger effect + incompetent management - people to finally find out= Dude, where's my bank?

  • @jamessmyth5949
    @jamessmyth5949 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    An ironic situation, a bank with workers who have degrees in financial and business management, yet not a single one of them from the CEO downward thought to implement a weekly reconciliation and report of money going out of the bank and money coming in. It would've highlighted pretty quickly that the bank was losing money and then traced it back to Leeson. It's like something out of a comedy show if it wasn't so serious.

  • @aniekanjoseph0308
    @aniekanjoseph0308 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Incredible!