If you ever want a wild masterclass in how one person can completely upend a centuries-old financial empire, look no further than the infamous Nick Leeson escape saga. Back in the mid-1990s, Leeson was a 28-year-old star trader stationed in Singapore for Barings Bank—Britain’s oldest merchant bank, which even counted the British royal family among its clients. He seemed to have the golden touch, but behind the glitz of the trading floor lay a ticking time bomb of unauthorized bets and hidden losses. When it finally detonated, it took down a 233-year-old institution and triggered one of the most dramatic international manhunts in modern corporate history. How the Nick Leeson…