Portrait of a rogue trader

Foreign exchange traders are rarely shy and retiring types. The work-hard, play-hard ethos of the markets cultivates aggression in the dealing room and sometimes outrageous behaviour outside it.

But John Rusnak did not fit that image. Indeed, many of the dealers who have worked with him over the past 15 years have trouble remembering him at all.

"He just seemed to fade into the background," said one dealer who worked with Rusnak in the late 1980s at Harris Trust.

And those who do remember Rusnak