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From Clerk to Rogue Trader to Facebook Laughingstock

Posted Jan 25, 08 11:14 AM CST in Business,  Technology,  World 

(Newser) – You don’t need a fancy education to lose $7.2 billion and become an Internet laughingstock. In the clubby world of French banking, Société Générale traders are usually the Gallic equivalent of Ivy League MBAs, but Jérôme Kerviel, a lowly biz school grad, worked his way up from shy clerk to secretive junior trader, the New York Times reports. Clearly, this man deserves the Nobel Prize for Economics.

At least that’s the thinking of more than 100 Facebook users who've joined a group to push Kerviel’s candidacy, the Guardian reports. Another group, “Let’s poke Jérôme Kerviel,” is dedicated to sending irritating “poke” messages to him through the social networking site. On Kerviel's Facebook profile, all but one of the 11 friends he had yesterday morning have deserted him.

Sources New York Times, Guardian (UK)

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People enter the headquarters building of French bank Societe Generale, Thursday Jan. 24, 2008, outside Paris. Societe Generale said Thursday it has uncovered a euro4.9 billion (US$7.14 billion) fraud,...   (Associated Press)
This internal security photo taken from French bank Societe Generale's Web site shows a man identified on the site as Jerome Kerviel. Societe Generale said Thursday Jan. 24, 2007 it has uncovered a 4.9...   (Associated Press)
A poster is seen at the entrance of Jerome Kerviel's apartment building in Neuilly sur Seine, just outside Paris, Friday Jan. 25, 2008. The Societe Generale bank has accused a 31-year-old junior trader,...   (Associated Press)
This Facebook screenshot shows the a facetious fan group for Kerviel.   (Facebook)
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Facebook  • Société Générale  • Jérôme Kerviel  • bank fraud  • Nobel Prize in Economics


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