Plenty of people do ridiculous things when they are blackout drunk (or so we hear). Some get ugly tattoos. Some get behind the wheel of a car. And some sneak into work and trade millions of dollars worth of oil.
Steve Perkins, broker for PVM Oil Futures, went into the office in the middle of the night after a weekend of heavy drinking and started making unauthorized trades to the tune of $520 million. The trades managed to move the global price by $1.65, which is a big deal (or so we hear). The trades cost the company almost $10 million! (He probably looked just like these other hilarious, shellshocked stock traders)
Perkins tried to cover his tracks when his bosses questioned him the next morning, but it soon came out that he’d been drinking and couldn’t recall making the disastrous transactions. A Financial Services Authority investigation took place and Perkins has had his trading license suspended for at least 5 years.
Now, we aren’t exactly experts in oil brokering, but it seems shockingly easy to make such significant unauthorized trades. While drunk, no less! Doesn’t exactly restore our faith in market recovery, does it? (via the Telegraph)