ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look back at one of the many stories CNN has covered over the past 20 years: today, the arrest of British stock trader Nick Leeson.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The extradition process now has a firm grip on broke banker Nicholas Leeson. The 28-year-old British stock trader was placed under formal arrest by German authorities, Friday afternoon. It was international high drama. Singapore sent white-collar crime investigators to Frankfurt to make their country's case. They want Leeson for forgery, claiming he faked a bank deposit receipt of $80 million while acting for the Singapore division of the Bearings Bank of London. Leeon is blamed for the collapse of Britain's oldest bank after bad trades worth of a billion dollars, but Leeson's lawyer said his client will fight the move to send him back. Leeson denies the charges of fraud, and his Frankfurt lawyer says Leeson wants to go home to London and intended to do so in the first place.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plane to London was full.</s>QUESTION: He could have waited for another...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so he took a plane to Frankfurt.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: British officials have launched their own fraud investigation into Leeson's bank trades, and charges could follow. If so, he could face an extradition request to Britain. Experts believe he'd opt to return home to avoid tough Singapore law.</s>KITTY PILGRIM, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: In December of 1995, a Singapore criminal court sentenced Nick Leeson to six-and-a-half years in prison. Well, he served about half of that prison sentence, he was released last year, and he publicly apologized for his actions.
CNN 20: Nick Leeson Arrested, March 2, 1995