Lawyer: SocGen 'Condoned' Trader's Deals

Bank couldn't have missed billions in moves: Kerviel's rep
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 15, 2008 11:26 AM CST
Lawyer: SocGen 'Condoned' Trader's Deals
A woman braves the wind outside the bank headquarters, Wednesday Jan. 30, 2008 in La Defense, outside Paris.   (Associated Press)

The French trader who lost Société Générale $7.2 billion acted with the tacit support of the banking giant's management, which "condoned" his trades, Jérôme Kerviel's lawyer says. The assertion contradicts executives' claims that Kerviel acted alone. "Jérôme is a smart trader, but not smarter than any other guy at SocGen," the lawyer told CNN.

His accounts were nearly $2 billion in the red in June and $1 billion in the black in December—figures so large his supervisors had to be aware of his actions, Guillaume Selnet says. "When you find the bank condoned what Jerome did for more than two years, I don't know if you can still state that he acted alone,"  he said. (More Société Générale stories.)

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