Mr Rusnak had created bogus confirmations on his personal computer, even creating counterfeit logos for the bogus counterparties. He stored the documents in a file called "fake docs"

Foreign exchange trader John Rusnak (37), above, is a native of Pennsylvania, where his father Emil was a steel worker and his mother Angelina registers death certificates for the state.

In 1986, he gained a degree in economics from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He worked first at the First Fidelity Bank in Philadelphia and later as a currency trader at Chemical Bank, a predecessor of JP Morgan Chase in New York.

In 1993, to escape the pressures of Wall Street, he joined Allfirst in Baltimore (then known as First Maryland) as a foreign currency trader.

Mr Rusnak is an active parishioner at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and joined the board of Baltimore Clayworks, a non-profit ceramics and cultural centre.

He and his wife Linda and two children live in the Baltimore neighbourhood of Mount Washington.