Déjà vu on the trading floor

ALLFIRST BANK/AFP

John Rusnaks trades may have cost Allied Irish $750 million

Haven't we all heard the Nick Leeson story one time too many? Let's see, there was the unauthorized biography, then the ghost-written how-I-did-it and even a celluloid treatment, with Ewan McGregor playing the Rogue Trader. Apparently some of the folks at Allied Irish, Ireland's biggest bank, needed another telling of the tale to drive home the message that inadequately supervised traders can threaten even the most venerable institutions. So last week we got the real-life reenactment: Allied Irish alleged that John Rusnak, 37, a currency trader at Allfirst, its U.S. unit in Baltimore, had piled up losses of $750 million over...

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