'Rogue trader' Kerviel to face trial after top court rejects appeal

France's highest appeal court has dismissed former trader Jérôme Kerviel's bid to delay his trial over massive trading losses at French lender Société Générale, which the bank says were due to unauthorised deals carried out by the then junior trader.

REUTERS - The planned trial of Jerome Kerviel over huge trading losses at French bank Societe Generale SA in 2008 is back on after he lost an appeal to delay the case, Kerviel's legal team said on Tuesday.
 
Kerviel, 32, has been under investigation since SocGen unveiled 4.9 billion euros ($7.3 billion) of losses in January 2008. SocGen said the losses were due to unauthorized deals carried out by Kerviel, a former junior trader at the bank.
 
In September, Kerviel was ordered to stand trial on charges of breach of trust, fraud and manipulating SocGen's computer system, but his lawyers managed to get the process delayed.
 
However, France's highest appeals court rejected Kerviel's request to delay the trial, which is expected to go ahead in late 2010.
 
Kerviel risks spending five years in jail and paying 375,000 euros in fines if found guilty.
 
Kerviel has admitted building up unauthorized trading positions but has said his supervisors tolerated breaches in SocGen's risk controls system.
 
Internal reports by SocGen into the affair show that Kerviel bypassed its control systems to start building up unauthorized trading positions in 2005 and 2006 for "small
amounts."

By the time SocGen discovered what was going on in January last year, Kerviel had amassed a position worth nearly 50 billion euros -- greater than SocGen's own stock market value.

Date created : 2009-11-11