Bet your parents never warned you about this potential side effect of drinking…

• Last year, Steve Perkins – a broker for PVM Oil Futures – got “blackout drunk” and decided to buy 7 million barrels of crude oil with his firm’s money, driving up the global price of oil.
• After realizing what he’d done, the 34 year old broker texted his managing director saying that he wouldn’t be coming into work the next day due to an ill family member.
• As PVM challenged his story, Perkins confessed to spending the firm’s money.
• Perkins seems to have had no motive for buying the oil, and he claims that he has a blurry memory of the entire night.

Facts and Figures

• Perkins spent $520 million of PVM’s money, but his job title only allows him to place trades on behalf of his clients.
• He bought 7 million barrels of crude oil at 2am.
• Perkins’s purchase raised the global oil price up more than $1.50 a barrel to an 8-month high.
• Mr. Perkins has been fired, banned from trading for 5 years, and fined £72,000 (about $110,000).

Best Quote

“Mr. Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk.” – Financial Services Authority