Functionality Mistakes Throughout History That Were Way Too Expensive to Fix

In 1996, Osaka-based Sumitomo Corporation was embroiled in a $1.8 billion scandal, notoriously known as the Sumitomo Copper Affair. Yasuo Hamanaka’s manipulation of the copper market over a decade revealed an alarming empire of deceit, marking a significant moment in metal trading history.

Yasuo Hamanaka’s unauthorized speculation on copper contracts led to a massive fraud within Sumitomo Corp. Starting as an attempt to recover losses, it spiraled into a deceptive scheme with forged justifications and non-existent copper inventories. This scandal sent Hamanaka to prison for eight years.