SocGen Trader Charged, Faces 7 Years

Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader who cost France's third-largest bank over $7 billion, was charged with attempted fraud by French authorities today, Bloomberg reports. Abuse of trust, the most serious of four charges, carries a potential 7-year sentence and $1.5-million fine. Police want him kept in custody, to prevent evidence tampering or flight.

Kerviel admitted faking trades and email trails to hide his positions, the chief prosecutor said at a press conference. His goal was to be a “stand-out trader,” the prosecutor said. He considered that for a long time he'd taken winning positions and had the "benefit of the doubt.'' Kerviel’s attorneys say he “committed no dishonest act, did not siphon off a single cent, and did not profit in any way,” and that SocGen is creating a "smokescreen" to hide losses elsewhere. (More Société Générale stories.)