Baltimore currency trader Mr John Rusnak has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges in connection with a major bank scandal involving the US unit of the Allied Irish Bank group.
Mr Rusnak, 37, was indicted in Baltimore earlier this month by a federal grand jury in the world's biggest banking scandal since Nick Leeson brought down Barings Bank.
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Mr John Rusnak
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Mr Rusnak allegedly ran up losses of around $691 million (€736 million) at Irish owned Allfirst Financial over five years, mostly from trading the Japanese yen.
The Baltimore man did not directly profit from the trading losses, but allegedly falsified trading records to cover them up so that he could keep earning bonuses tied directly to his performance, investigators said.
Mr Rusnak's lawyer, Mr David Irwin, requested a jury trial but a trial date was not set.
Mr Rusnak, dressed smartly in a dark business suit, did not speak while his lawyer entered the plea in a Baltimore court today.
"We are pleading not guilty to all counts in the indictment," Mr Irwin told Judge Paul Grimm.
Mr Rusnak faces up to 30 years in prison and a USD$680,000 fine on each of seven counts of bank fraud and making false entries. He is free on bail.
The indictment followed a four-month investigation into Rusnak's trading at Allfirst, a US subsidiary of Ireland's biggest bank, Allied Irish Banks. The scandal embarrassed the parent company and led to a management shake-up at Allfirst.
The case is the biggest bank fraud case since trader Nick Leeson lost more than Stg£680 million for Barings Bank and caused it to collapse in 1995. AIB said Mr Rusnak's trading may prompt it to leave the US market.
Prosecutors said Mr Rusnak made fictitious entries in the bank's computerised record system to conceal the trading losses between 1997 and 2001 and generate a record of false profits for the bank.
Mr Rusnak collected bonuses and salary totalling about USD$582,000 over the last five years, the federal prosecutor said.
AIB formed Allfirst in 1999 from the merger of two Maryland financial institutions. Allfirst has about 250 branches operating from Virginia to Pennsylvania.
Agencies