[b]New York Times[/b]
[quote]
PARIS — When a French judge on Tuesday sentenced Jérôme Kerviel, the former Société Générale trader, to three years in prison and ordered him to repay €4.9 billion in restitution to the bank, the collective gasp from the courtroom clearly signaled that the question of who bears responsibility for banks’ aggressive risk-taking in the build-up to the global financial crisis is far from resolved.
The verdict, legal experts said, has once again laid bare the deep distrust among the French public of its elites and its financial institutions — a suspicion that has only strengthened in the years since the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis brought about the multibillion-dollar bailouts of many of the world’s leading financial lights.
“It really does hold him solely responsible, which is probably the most debatable part of the decision,” said Christopher Mesnooh, an international lawyer with Field Fisher Waterhouse in Paris. “The message from the court is that Société Générale — a leading jewel of the French banking sector — did not act irresponsibly, but was the victim of a rogue trader.”
Mr. Kerviel, 33, whose €50 billion, or $69 billion at current exchange rates, in rogue dealings almost brought about the French bank’s demise, was convicted on all counts of breach of trust, forgery and unauthorized use of computer systems. The court sentenced him to five years, with two suspended, and barred him for life from working in financial services.
Caroline Guillaumin, a spokeswoman for Société Générale, said the €4.9 billion damage award was a “symbolic” sum that the bank did not expect would be paid. “But it is important, and we are satisfied, because it recognizes that the entirety of the bank’s losses are attributed to Jérôme Kerviel’s actions,” she said.
Mr. Kerviel stood impassively while the verdict was read, betraying no emotion.
His lawyer, Olivier Metzner, said he would appeal. “This judgment is totally unreasonable,” he said outside the court. “It suggests that the bank is not responsible for anything, that no system of control could have prevented this.”
The court agreed that the former trader could remain free until the outcome of that appeal, which legal experts said was unlikely to be heard before late next year.
Legal analysts said they were not surprised by the prison sentence — which was in fact shorter than the minimum four years that prosecutors had sought.
But it was the size of the awarded damages, equal to the entire amount the bank lost in unwinding his trades in early 2008, that seemed aimed at insulating French banks in general — and particularly a bank renowned for its expertise in complex financial derivatives — from accusations of lax oversight and U.S.-style “casino capitalism.”
“It’s a whitewash,” Bradley D. Simon, a white-collar criminal defense attorney at Simon & Partners in New York who specializes in securities and bank fraud, said of the verdict. “The evidence does not support absolving the bank completely,” he said. “This was a lot larger than Kerviel.”
Société Générale had admitted to management failures and weaknesses in its risk control systems. An internal audit published in May 2008 described Mr. Kerviel’s immediate supervisors as “deficient” and acknowledged that the bank had failed to follow through on at least 74 internal alerts about Mr. Kerviel’s trading activities dating to mid-2006.
The French Banking Commission later fined Société Générale €4 million.
Yet Dominique Pauthe, the presiding judge, ruled that Société Générale’s failure to detect Mr. Kerviel’s dealings for more than two years did not absolve the trader of primary responsibility for the bank’s huge losses.
“The lack of vigilance by the bank in monitoring the only existing limits, acting as alert signs, hardly exempted Jérôme Kerviel from his duty to inform his hierarchy of the reality of his excesses or to come back within the limits imposed,” Mr. Pauthe said, reading excerpts from the 73-page ruling. “By his deliberate actions, he put in peril the existence of the bank that employed 140,000 people, of which he was a part, and whose future he mortgaged,” he said.
[/quote]
[highlight]UPDATE: The Societe Generale said they won't reclaim all the money. [/highlight]
If the guy retains the 50-69B, 4M won't fucking matter.
This guy probably ruined thousands of lives by speculating with that money.
He should go to jail for his whole fucking live.
[QUOTE=Wizard of Ass;25290870]This guy probably ruined thousands of lives by speculating with that money.
He should go to jail for his whole fucking live.[/QUOTE]
He did not commit a violent crime.
What the fuck kind of fine is this?
4.9 billion euros ... shiit i earn that in an hour !
Rather unfortunate that in the case of a company being at fault, they always pin the blame on a person, or small group of people and the company gets off, for example in the case of the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise.
No doubt this guy was a moron and prick, but the problem likely goes deeper than him.
The company totally knew what he was doing by the way. There's like, 10 high-placed guys at the bank that affirmed it.
[QUOTE=Sparkwire;25290889]He did not commit a violent crime.[/QUOTE]
Dude! What the fuck!?
Violence is now the only crime worth Punishing? Where the fuck do you live?
[QUOTE=Bomimo;25291858]Dude! What the fuck!?
Violence is now the only crime worth Punishing? Where the fuck do you live?[/QUOTE]
What the article stated.. thats worth life in jail? :rolleyes:
Source please.
Also nearly 5 billion is a whole fucking lot.
Well, if he has to pay 50 billion and doesn`t retain the stolen money, his life is fucked up enough to make up for a good punishment.
Let me get this clear.
Jerome Kerviel was a trader, who worked for the Société Générale, a bank.
This bank told him "it's ok, do your job, invest in whatever you want", even though they said they didn't.
He invested for 50 Billions (when the bank didn't had them), then the market went down and he lost 5 Billions Euros. He never got the 45 other Billions.
The bank said he bypassed the security systems on the computers (there's 68 different security system which shouldn't have allowed him to do that. One man would surely bypass all these sytems, uh ?) and that he shouldn't have done that
trader gets fired
He has not stolen any money, and won't retain the money he invested.
[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;25292101]What the article stated.. thats worth life in jail? :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
3 years.
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