Add Category
Nick Leeson, the former derivatives trader who brought down Britain’s Barings Bank, has joined a corporate intelligence firm run by Seth Freedman, previously an operative at controversial private intelligence agency Black Cube.
Leeson, 56, will investigate financial misconduct with the London-based Red Mist Market Enforcement Unit to help investors seek compensation in court when regulators are unable to help, he said in an interview.
“I have also been on the other side of the equation and understand the psychology of some of the people involved,” the one-time star trader said.
Nick Leeson, who markets himself as the “original rogue trader”, is now also a corporate spy.Credit:AAP
Leeson’s website describes him as the “original rogue trader.” He amassed losses of about $US1.4 billion when working for Barings in Singapore in 1995, leading to the bank’s failure and eventual sale to ING Groep for £1. A film was made in 1999 based on his book about the scandal, starring Ewan McGregor.
Having served about four years in Singaporean prison for attempting to cover up his bad trades, he now lives in the Irish city of Galway. There, he’s worked for a debt counselling company and Galway United Football Club, where he was CEO from 2007 until 2011. He’s also an after-dinner speaker.
‘I have also been on the other side of the equation and understand the psychology of some of the people involved.’
Former star trader turned spy Nick Leeson
Freedman’s career, meanwhile, has included time as an undercover investigator for the disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein. In 2018 he left Black Cube, which is run by veterans of Israeli intelligence, and set up Red Mist in 2021.
“Leeson, who’s obviously had his own clashes with the regulators, knows the City inside out. He’s brilliant at forensic work,” Freedman said in an interview. “When it comes to listed companies fraud and unravelling what’s going on, you need to have people who are experts in markets.”
The pair were brought together by Mike Whitlow, an entrepreneur based in Cyprus who works with Red Mist as a forensic investigator. They say their clients include Nobu Su, a Taiwanese former shipping tycoon who served prison time for contempt of court, and who claims a UK bank failed to protect his interests in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.