Thursday, October 25, 2012

Jérôme Kerviel, the Frenchman who nearly broke the bank...

Jérôme Kerviel, who lost his appeal Wednesday against a three-year jail term and a €4.9-billion fine for his part in France's biggest rogue-trading scandal, casts himself as a simple soul caught up in an orgy of greed.

The 35-year-old was convicted of forgery and breach of trust for gambling away nearly €5 billion ($6.3-billion) in risky deals as a star trader at Société Générale, one of Europe's biggest banks.

Branded a crook by his ex-employer and a mere scapegoat by defenders, Kerviel insisted his bosses knew what he was doing and turned a blind eye to possible breaches of rules as long as he kept the profits rolling in.

Even as he racked up billions for the bank in its skyscraper in Paris's La Défense business district, Kerviel lived modestly in a small suburban flat and took the train to Brittany in the holidays to visit his widowed mother.

 "I am an ordinary person. I am not crazy," he said during investigations into the scandal after Société Générale was driven to unwind €50 billion of risky deals that it blames on him. Full story...

Related posts:
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  2. The $2 billion UBS incident: 'Rogue Trader' my ass...
  3. LIBOR or Lie-more? Will banking cartels bite the dust this time?
  4. LIBOR banking scandal deepens: Barclays releases damning e-mail...
  5. The mysterious Frenchman who can "shake the Republic..."

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