NOTTINGHAM.- A bright yellow and black striped trading jacket signed by Nick Leeson, the city trader who cost Barings Bank $1.3 billion is up for auction with John Pye Auctions, one of Britain’s largest regional and national auction houses.

The jacket, which is estimated to sell for £200 to £300, is a replica of the one Nick Leeson wore. It is part of a John Pye Auctions memorabilia sale being held at Marchington.

Mr Leeson’s fall from grace reads like a Greek tragedy and is well documented in the UK and international press as well as on his own website.

His notoriety put him on the front cover of Time Magazine which showed him being led away, off to prison in Singapore with the headline: “Ego and Greed.”

His story started in the 1980s when he landed a job as a clerk with Coutts, followed by positions with other banks, ending up at Barings, where his ability was recognised and was promoted to the trading floor.

Soon Nick was appointed manager of a new operation in futures markets on the Singapore Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) and was making millions for Barings by betting on the future direction of the Nikkei Index. Back in London his bosses viewed his large profits with delight and trusted him to deliver much more.

Leeson and his wife Lisa were living the high life: a salary of £50,000, bonuses of £150,000, weekends in exotic places, a smart apartment and a constant round of parties.

What Barings did not realise was that Nick was hiding his losses in an account set up to cover up a mistake made by an inexperienced team member. Leeson now used this account to cover his own mounting losses.

As the losses grew, Leeson requested extra funds to continue trading, hoping to extricate himself from the mess by more deals. By the time he was discovered he’d cost the bank $1.3bn. Barings management had to inform the Bank of England that Barings was effectively bust. Nick Leeson had wiped out the 233 year old Baring investment Bank, which counted HM The Queen as a client.

He was arrested in 1995 and served five years in prison. On his release bad luck seemed to follow him as his wife divorced him and he then got cancer. But he proved to be a fighter and wrote a book which was turned into a film Rogue Tader starring Ewan McGregor; he did a degree in psychology and married for the second time to Irish beautician Leona Tormay. In 2005 Nick was appointed Commercial Manager of Galway United Football Club, rising to the position of General Manager in late November 2005. The same year Nick published his second book Back from the Brink.