Last week, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) finished a long investigation, and confirmed what Wall Street insiders already knew: that the large and unexpected jump in the price of oil on June 30th, 2009 was caused by a single trader.
Between the hours of 1:22 and 3:41 am, a highly intoxicated senior broker at PVM Oil Futures purchased 7 million barrels' worth of crude oil futures - equivalent to 69% of the global market for oil. The trader, Mr. Perkins, unfortunately has no recollection of the event as he subsequently experienced a blackout.
Shortly after waking up at 6:30 am, Perkins did what anyone would do under similar circumstances - he sent a text message to his supervisor, explaining that could not come into work as he had to care for a sick relative.
Unwinding the massive orders lost PVM 9.8 million USD.
As a result of his binge, Perkins was ordered to pay a fine of 72 thousand pounds, and had his license revoked for 5 years. In truth, not a bad penalty for momentarily changing the world, and for a great story to tell for the rest of your life.
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"Mr. Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk."
The Financial Services Authority
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