Canadian John Hall bears only a passing resemblance to Nick Leeson, the trader blamed for bringing down Britain's oldest investment bank. But for a while, Thai authorities and the media seemed to think they'd found their man.
While Leeson was being detained in Germany, Hall was explaining to reporters waiting for him at Hong Kong's airport that their man was someone else.Reporters were chasing rumors that Leeson, a Briton, was flying from Thailand to Canada via Hong Kong using a fake Canadian passport under the name John Hall.
Hall and Leeson are the same age, 28, and are both slightly balding. Both worked in Singapore, where Hall managed a nightclub and Leeson is said to have made failed stock market gambles that bankrupted Baring Brothers & Co., a 232-year-old British bank.
But they don't really look alike: Hall has a light brown crewcut and is tall and trim, while Leeson is blond and beefier.
Leeson disappeared from Singapore last week.
Hall left Thailand for home in Ottawa before Leeson's arrest. Before he left, reporters at Bangkok's airport questioned him, and officials also seemed to think he was Leeson because "they made sure that my identification was correct," Hall said.
"It's been one bizarre experience," he said in the transit lounge at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport.
Hall said he had not seen a photo of Leeson, but his wife had.
"She said I didn't look anything like him."