When global stock markets shook in January 2008, the image editors of the world's financial press kept reaching for the same photograph: Dirk Mueller, a veteran broker on the Frankfurt exchange floor, caught mid-grimace or mid-relief as the DAX swung.
Mueller, 39, appeared on the front pages of the International Herald Tribune, The Times of London, Handelsblatt, and the French daily Libération within the same week. A German newspaper ran his face in a pop-art montage; television crews sought him out for plain-spoken commentary. He lost that spot only when images of Jérôme Kerviel, the Société Générale trader accused of concealing billions in losses, began to dominate coverage.
His position at ICF brokerage, where he had worked a decade, placed him directly beneath the trading-floor price display and squarely in front of camera lenses. Expressive reactions and a willingness to give interviews did the rest.
Mueller was measured about the Kerviel affair. "He is not the one to blame," he said, pointing instead to a financial system he described as resembling a casino increasingly disconnected from the real economy. He had anticipated a market correction before the selloff arrived, and noted that without the Société Générale position unwinding, the drop might have been shorter and shallower.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in January 2008, in its own words.