Man Who Brought Down Bank Is Back in Finance

Nick Leeson, who committed the world’s biggest banking fraud, has landed his first new job in a decade: overseeing the books and other business transactions for a soccer club in Ireland.

Leeson spent four years in prison in Singapore for covering up more than $1.2 billion in trading losses that destroyed Barings, Britain’s oldest merchant bank, in 1995. His bestselling autobiography, “Rogue Trader,” became a film of the same name starring Ewan McGregor.

He came to Galway 2 1/2 years ago with his second wife, Leona, who comes from the western Irish city. Until now, he said, he has been earning a living mainly from delivering speeches on the Barings disaster, his survival of colon cancer and the lessons those experiences have taught him.

“It’s been lucrative but all very piecemeal, so I’ve been keeping one eye open all the time for something interesting,” Leeson said in a phone interview.

When he interviewed for the job at Galway United Football Club, he said he offered no references -- and began by discussing the scandal. “The first thing you must deal with is the collapse of the bank and you don’t try to put any gloss on it,” he said.

The soccer club’s board approved his appointment as commercial director Friday. Leeson’s responsibilities are expected to include merchandise and ticket sales as well as the financial side of players’ contracts and broadcasting rights.

The Galway club was founded in 1937 and enjoyed its greatest successes from the mid-1980s to late 1990s.