Rogue trader loses appeal
Jerôme Kerviel, who lost the Société Générale nearly €5 billion, plans a last-ditch application to the Cour de Cassation
ROGUE trader Jerôme Kerviel says he feels “totally crushed” after losing an appeal against a jail sentence and colossal financial penalty.
The former Société Générale trader says he will make a last-ditch appeal to top appeal court the Cour de Cassation, after the Paris appeal court confirmed his sentence of three years’ jail (plus two suspended) and liability to pay back the €4.9 billion he lost the bank.
“I am begging all Société Générale traders who have evidence to come and help me,” he said on France 2 television news. He “can’t understand the judgment” given by the appeal court, he said.
Kerviel said he thought he could not cope with going to prison. However he is not expected to actually start any sentence until the final “cassation” appeal is heard.
The bank says Kerviel lost the money by making unauthorised deals that his supervisors did not know about; however Kerviel has alleged his practices were common and were ignored if profits were made.
The award of damages of €4.9 billion to the bank was the largest ever in France – previous large sums amounted to millions. The bank has said it will be “realistic” about how much it will actually seek to reclaim.
Kerviel is currently unemployed and comes from a family of modest means. Financial newspaper Les Echos noted it would take 370,000 years on the minimum wage to pay back the sum.
A person sentenced to pay damages is legally required to pay according to “ability to pay”, which means Kerviel could have money taken off any future work income or pension, leaving enough to cover essential needs.
Photo:Screenshot from TF1
