Rogue trader Nick Leeson made headlines in the mid nineties for the role he played in the crash of Barings Bank. The oldest merchant bank in the UK, Barings Bank was sold to Dutch banking group ING for a mere one pound sterling after it collapsed.

The activities of Nick Leeson were indisputably the main reason for the bank’s demise. While based in Singapore as an investment operations officer, Leeson began placing bets of thousands of dollars on interest rate movements. After embezzling over $1.3 billion American dollars, his actions were discovered by Barings Bank executives. Leeson attempted to flee but was apprehended by police and subsequently served a six and a half year prison sentence for his crimes.

However in a bizarre twist of fate, Leeson has recently appeared on the Celebpoker.com internet casino site as a professional poker player. According to Celebpoker.com, Leeson was first introduced to online poker as a hobby by ex-football star Vinnie Jones. The game has now become his main source of income, with the former trader winning a top poker jackpot of $25,000 in one game last week.

Yet despite Leeson’s success, he insists he’s turned over a new leaf and gambling large sums on online poker games is no longer his style. “The return on the money can be phenomenal but I am well aware that I can lose too,” he said. “So I won’t be repeating the mistakes I made in the past.”

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