Broker arrested as Societe Generale plot thickens

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.