We recently presented a look at some of the most notorious financial felons of contemporary times.

Since then, news has included the indictment of Mark Cuban for insider trading in a case that is somewhat reminiscent of Martha Stewart's case. According to the SEC, the billionaire entrepreneur asked his broker to sell all his shares of Mamma.com after the company's CEO confidentially told him of an impending stock offering that would dilute the value of all existing shares. By selling before the information became public, Cuban is said to have sidestepped losses of more than $750,000. Cuban insists, though, that no agreement existed to keep the information confidential.

And then there was the indictment in Texas of Vice President Dick Cheney, along with former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others. There seems to be a conflict of interest between the vice president's influence on the federal agency that oversees federal immigration detention centers and his substantial holdings in Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies. But does the lame-duck county district attorney, who was a no-show in court, have the authority to bring charges against federal officials with regard to federally run institutions?

This post is part of a feature in which we wonder whatever happened to some notorious financial felons. See all 17.

Who better understands the roots of the current financial crisis than the man who single-handedly brought down Barings Bank back in 1995? Back then, Nicholas Leeson lost $1.4 billion in unauthorized trading and rendered Britain's oldest bank insolvent. It was eventually sold for one pound to ING, a Dutch Bank.

Leeson now lives in Ireland with his family and is CEO of Irish football club Galway United. Although he is available for speaking engagements, he's been in relative obscurity until recently when he has re-emerged to comment on today's financial crisis.

He's been pretty prescient. In a column in the U.K.'s Independent back in January, he wrote that the financial crisis would only get worse, mainly because regulators, central banks, and the investment bankers did not understand the potential market impact of the financial instruments in play.

Leeson correctly predicted both a "crisis of confidence" in leadership and that the financial crisis would "get a lot worse before it starts to get any better." Hey Nick, have we reached bottom yet?

Compared to today's bumbling financiers who threaten to bring down the entire global financial system with their ill-timed bets, Leeson seems "like a cheap date and more fun," opines one Scottish news site. Even more to his credit, that site points out, Leeson actually went to prison, serving four years in a Singapore prison.

Will any of today's financial ne'er-do-wells do time?

This post is part of a series on some of the most memorable companies that have disappeared.

I credit Nick Leeson for creating jobs for lots of my friends. Back in 1995, when he single-handedly brought down Barings Bank with currency trading run amok, I had never heard the term "risk management." But I soon started hearing right and left of friends getting highly paid jobs at financial firms in the "risk management" department.

Apparently, after Mr. Leeson lost $1.4 billion dollars in unauthorized trading rendering Barings insolvent, financial institutions around the world decided to put in more rigorous systems of checks and balances that would keep such things from happening. Hence, newly expanded risk management departments.

Founded in 1762, Barings Bank was the oldest merchant bank in London, financed the Napoleonic Wars, and was the Queen of England's own bank.