Rogue trader traded from home, report says
Reuters News Agency
John Rusnak, the rogue trader who ran up $691-million (U.S.) losses at the U.S. arm of Allied Irish Banks, carried out currency trades on his home computer using files labelled "fake docs," a report into the scandal revealed on Thursday.
The report also found that Mr. Rusnak had been courted by brokers and traders in the foreign exchange market, with meals, hotel stays, golf trips and tickets to the U.S. Superbowl game.
"He apparently liked to be wined and dined and the brokers obliged," the report by former U.S. bank regulator Eugene Ludwig found.
The investigation, commissioned last month shortly after AIB's losses were first discovered, found that Mr. Rusnak had planned and implemented the fraud over a long period by falsifying key bank records and documents — even creating confirmations of currency trades complete with counterfeit logos of other banks.
The investigation revealed that Mr. Rusnak stored bogus trading documentation on his personal computer. "He stored them in a computer file labelled 'fake docs,'" the report said. "He also traded at home and at night, but this trading was not monitored appropriately."
Mr. Rusnak, hired by Allied Irish's U.S. unit Allfirst in 1993, was regarded by some fellow staff as strong and confident. "At the same time, however, many at Allfirst — particularly in the back office — found him to be arrogant and abusive," the report said.
Mr. Rusnak is accused of running up huge losses in trading dollar/yen and then attempting to disguise those losses by putting in place fraudulent option trades.
The trader has not cooperated with Mr. Ludwig's investigation, but is talking to U.S. federal authorities and has denied stealing. |
