Ex-Societe Generale trader appealing 3-year sentence, €4.9B ($6.7B) in damages in French trial
By APTuesday, October 5, 2010
French trader appealing sentence, $6.7B in damages
PARIS — The lawyer for former French bank trader Jerome Kerviel says he is appealing a Paris court’s verdict sending Kerviel to prison for three years and ordering him to pay a staggering euro4.9 billion ($6.7 billion) in damages.
Lawyer Olivier Metzner says his client is “disgusted.” He said the court found bank Societe Generale SA “was responsible for nothing, not responsible for the creature that it had created.”
Metzner says “I have the feeling Jerome Kerviel is paying for an entire system.”
Kerviel was found guilty on charges of forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized computer use for covering up bets worth nearly euro50 billion between late 2007 and early 2008.
He maintained that the bank tolerated his massive risk-taking as long as it made money.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
PARIS (AP) — A Paris court has convicted former trader Jerome Kerviel guilty of all charges in one of history’s biggest trading frauds, sentencing him to three years in prison and ordering him to repay Societe Generale SA the staggering euro4.9 billion ($6.72 billion) that the bank lost.
The 33-year-old former index futures trader stood expressionless as the court pronounced a five-year sentence on Tuesday — with two years suspended.
Kerviel was found guilty on charges of forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized computer use for covering up bets worth nearly euro50 billion between late 2007 and early 2008.
He maintained throughout the trial in June that the bank tolerated his massive risk-taking as long as it made money.
