Toshihide Iguchi
Toshihide Iguchi (井口俊英 born 1951) is a former Japanese government bond trader at Daiwa Bank responsible for $1.1 billion in losses involving 30,000 unauthorized trades over a period of 11 years beginning in 1984.[1]
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[edit] Biography
Born in Kobe, Japan, Iguchi came to the U.S. at age 19 to enroll in Southwest Missouri State College (now called Missouri State University) where he majored in psychology.[2] After graduating, he was hired at Daiwa's New York branch to work in the securities custody department. In 1980, he was promoted to the role of a portfolio manager.
In 1983, he lost $70,000 in trading and concealed this loss to protect his reputation and job. He continued trading to recoup the loss; however, the loss snowballed. In 1988, he was joined by two other traders who also concealed their losses. Iguchi continued to conceal the losses away from internal auditors and state and federal regulators.
In September 1995, fearing the damage his losses may cause the bank if inadvertently discovered, Iguchi wrote a confession letter to the president of Daiwa Bank, Japan detailing what had transpired. By this time, the loss was in excess of $1 billion. [3] According to Iguchi, concealing this loss to protect his reputation and job was the impetus for his subsequent unauthorized trading.[3]
While Daiwa had instructed Iguchi to continue concealing the losses, it turned his confession letter over to the federal authorities and Iguchi was arrested at his home. [3]
Iguchi was incarcerated in a solitary cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City for 15 months, befriending George Harp (a founding member of the Aryan Brotherhood), Greg Scarpa (a Mafia hitman), Abu Marzook (a Hamas leader) and Latin Kings members. During his incarceration, Iguchi penned a memoir of his life in America in Japanese and while he was still in the cell, the book became a #1 bestseller in Japan.
In 1997, he was sentenced to four years in prison and sent to Allenwood Prison Camp (Federal Correctional Institute, Allenwood) to serve the remainder of his term. There he wrote another book about George Harp, the only surviving founding-member of the Aryan Brotherhood, titled King of the Prison, which was published in Japan.
In March 1999, he was released from Allenwood FPC.
In August 2000, Iguchi moved to Atlanta, Georgia to begin his new life as a writer.
In April 2001, Iguchi published The Dollar Conspiracy from Bungeishunju.
In May 2002, Iguchi authored another book, titled My Billion Dollar Education, an English version of his best-selling book, The Confession.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
4. "[My Billion Dollar Education]" by Toshihide Iguchi
[edit] External links
- An Unusual Path to Big Time Trading - NY Times
- Daiwa Case Study - Bancware ERisk Case Study
- "I didn't set out to rob a bank" - Time Interview Feb. 1997
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