Gilty

Stephen Humphries, who took just 92 minutes to lose UK£750,000 in fraudulent trading on the gilts futures market, was jailed for three years and nine months on 3 October. During an afternoon in which his counsel said that Humphries had “in effect lost his head at the roulette table”, he lied repeatedly to superiors about his position’s exposure. His losses mounted to the point when the firm’s bankers withdrew facilities and an investigation was launched. When he was arrested, Humphries told police that he did not believe that he had committed fraud but rather that he had merely made a mistake and that he had tried to trade his way out of trouble. However, his recklessness destroyed Sussex Futures, a leading independent broking firm that employed 70 staff and 42 dealer positions, it was finally forced to close with losses of UK£2.3 million.