Trial
Kerviel prosecutor seeks four-year prison sentence
Jerome Kerviel should serve four years in prison for his role in Societe Generale SA's 4.9 billion-euro ($6 billion) loss, French prosecutor Jean-Michel Aldebert said in his closing arguments to judges in Paris.
Kerviel, 33, is accused of abuse of trust, faking documents and hacking the bank's computers. The trading loss occurred as the bank unwound 50 billion euros in positions he'd built up by January 2008, far beyond his trading limits, and concealed with faked hedges and forged orders.
"Jerome Kerviel is a liar, a trickster, and a fraudster," Aldebert said. "I ask you to declare him guilty of the charges."
Kerviel has insisted that his actions were "professional errors" rather than crimes. He told the court earlier in the trial that the faked documents were so simple anyone would have known they were forgeries, his excuses were so far-fetched they shouldn't have been believed, and that the money he was using was always visible to the bank.
The recommended sentence is "very, very heavy," Kerviel lawyer Olivier Metzner said outside the courtroom. Kerviel's goal "was to make money for the bank."
Metzner will deliver closing arguments tomorrow, on the trial's final day. Societe Generale yesterday asked to be awarded the 4.9 billion it lost in damages.
'Destructive Genius'
Aldebert said Kerviel should receive a five-year sentence, with one year suspended, calling him "a destructive genius." He could have sought a 375,000-euro fine in addition to the prison term.
Kerviel "cynically exploited holes in the control process," Aldebert said. He "has tried to sow confusion during the hearing, to make the bank "is accomplice."
Kerviel "is an actor. He is someone who hides and lies," Philippe Bourion, another prosecutor, told the court. "That is not the behavior of someone who is acting with the support of his superiors, whose boss is saying 'Go, go go!'"
The three-week long trial has featured more than 30 witnesses, including Kerviel's bosses, colleagues and bank controllers. Daniel Bouton, Societe Generale's chief executive officer at the time of the loss, called the former trader's conduct a "catastrophe" for the bank.
(Published by Bloomberg - June 24, 2010)