When the news first broke that low-level rogue trader Jerome Kerviel had racked up $7 billion in unauthorized trading losses, many people were puzzled. What was his motive? How had he gotten away with it? Mr. Kerviel was believed to have acted alone, but did he really?
Now The New York Times is reporting that French police have arrested Manuel Zabraniecki in connection with the case. We're wondering what his role in this disaster might have been and, perhaps more interestingly, what possible motive he might have had. As bizarre as it was that Kerviel had lost $7 billion worth of the bank's money without profiting personally, it's even more difficult to fathom a conspiracy involving more than one person committing a motive-less financial crime.
In the meantime, you'll be happy to know that, as of early February, Mr. Kerviel had not been fired because, The Wall Street Journal reported, "French law stipulates that to do that, the bank must first call him in for a sit-down meeting and explain its dissatisfaction. He has the right to bring along a trade-union official, a lawyer or anyone else he'd like."
I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting.
Broker arrested as Societe Generale plot thickens
Posted Mar 12th 2008 2:37PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Scandals
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-12-2008 @ 2:47PM
Sheldon L said...
You don't need to be a fly on the wall Zac. You know what will be said.
"We find that your performance over the last year has been quite extroadinary. We have never seen or heard of anyone losing $7 billion that was not a government official. This is so far outside of our expectatations that we feel we must put you on notice that should you lose another $7 billion we will be forced to ask for your resignation. However, you should not worry because, as is blatantly obvious the government would probably jump at the opportunity to retain someone of your experience. You would need no training and could start to lose money on the first day."
3-12-2008 @ 3:23PM
jpsplus said...
Who needs to write the book- he just needs to sell the ticket to be in the room for the "sit down"-It will be a while before we get to the bottom of this one.