Complete the text with an appropriate word in each gap.
Nick Leeson started working as a money trader for Barings Bank in the City of London in the late 1980s. He
quickly became successful and soon he was Barings Bank's star Singapore trader. By 1993, Leeson had made
more than ten million pounds for the bank, and he and his wife Lisa were enjoying a life of luxury in
Singapore. And, perhaps, if Leeson hadn’t 1
_ greedy, his life would have been very different.
But he wanted even more money. Unfortunately, Leeson was 2
_ of luck by 1994, when the
money markets started to turn against him. By autumn that year, his losses were 208 million pounds. But he
thought that things were 3
_ control, and he tried to recover these losses by 4
_ , not
telling anyone about the risks he was taking.
Leeson requested extra money from his managers in order to continue his trading activities, as he attempted to
save himself from the financial mess he was 5
_ . Because of these requests, the bank
6
_ Leeson put under investigation in February 1995. They discovered,
7
_ chance,
that Leeson had hidden losses of 800 million pounds 8
_ purpose in an account called ‘Error
Account 88888’. This was almost the entire value of Barings Bank itself. 9
_ the bank had
discovered this earlier, they may have survived, but, by now, the losses were too big for the bank to recover
from.
When he was discovered, Leeson and his wife went on the run, first to Borneo, then to Frankfurt, but
10_ the end he was arrested and then sent back to Singapore. Leeson was found guilty of fraud
and was sent to prison for six and a half years.