SocGen Trader Headed for Jail

Paris court rules Kerviel must spend investigation behind bars
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 8, 2008 7:05 PM CST
SocGen Trader Headed for Jail
French bank Societe Generale's lawyer Jean Veil, left, answers the press after a Paris court ordered French trader Jerome Kerviel to be jailed while investigations continue into billions of euros (dollars) in losses he allegedly caused at Societe Generale bank, Friday Feb 8, 2008 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel...   (Associated Press)

A Paris court ruled today that rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel should be behind bars during the remainder of the investigation into his case, the New York Times reports. Kerviel is suspected of fake trading that cost French bank Société Générale $7 billion. When he heard the ruling, Kerviel looked like “the sky had fallen on his head,” said an opposition lawyer.

It remains unclear whether Kerviel’s crimes were solo endeavors. French police brought a broker for SocGen affiliate Fimat in for questioning yesterday; sources say he is 32-year-old Moussa Bakir. They claim prosecutors hold new evidence in the case—text messages between Kerviel and Bakir. “You have done nothing illegal in terms of the law,” Bakir wrote to Kerviel in November. (More Fimat stories.)

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