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Societe Generale trader Kerviel jailed for three years | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel will serve three years in jail with a further two years suspended after being convicted by a Paris court. | |
Kerviel was told he must repay the damages of almost 5bn euros ($7bn; £4bn) the bank said it lost through his risky trades. | |
He was found guilty of forgery, unauthorised computer use and breach of trust. | |
Kerviel's lawyer said he would appeal the conviction. | |
The trial earlier this year was over charges that he bet 50bn euros of SocGen's money without the bank's knowledge. | |
"Kerviel knowingly went beyond his remit as a trader," presiding judge Dominique Pauthe told the court. | |
Kerviel's defence was the bank knew about the risk-taking and was content while he was making profit. | |
'Catastrophe' | 'Catastrophe' |
The trial saw Kerviel's former bosses and colleagues line up to testify against him. | |
SocGen's lawyer, Jean Veil, accused Kerviel of "duplicity" for reassuring his bosses that nothing was wrong while racking up the huge losses. | |
And the bank's president and chief executive at the time of the losses, Daniel Bouton, called the trading scandal a "catastrophe". | And the bank's president and chief executive at the time of the losses, Daniel Bouton, called the trading scandal a "catastrophe". |
But Kerviel's lawyers argued that the failure was more than incompetence, and that there was a culture of rule breaking at SocGen where management deliberately turned a blind eye in the hunt for profit. | |
The bank was fined 4m euros by French regulators for failures in those systems following the scandal. | The bank was fined 4m euros by French regulators for failures in those systems following the scandal. |
'Timing' | 'Timing' |
The Kerviel affair has dealt a blow to reputation of one of France's most prestigious financial institutions, said BBC business reporter Mark Gregory, but added that in some respects the fall-out had been less than might be expected. | The Kerviel affair has dealt a blow to reputation of one of France's most prestigious financial institutions, said BBC business reporter Mark Gregory, but added that in some respects the fall-out had been less than might be expected. |
Our correspondent says this was due to the timing. | |
Jerome Kerviel's dealings are now often seen as footnote to the much larger global financial panic that followed the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers a few months later, he says. | Jerome Kerviel's dealings are now often seen as footnote to the much larger global financial panic that followed the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers a few months later, he says. |
The few billion dollars lost by SocGen pale besides the hundreds of billions of dollars thrown away through risky dealings in America's sub-prime mortgage market, our correspondent adds. | The few billion dollars lost by SocGen pale besides the hundreds of billions of dollars thrown away through risky dealings in America's sub-prime mortgage market, our correspondent adds. |