Six years after his first arrest, French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel was Monday beginning a three-year prison term for his role in the near collapse of Societe Generale bank.
After a weekend of high drama in which he had threatened to stay in Italy in a bid to get President Francois Hollande to intervene in his case, the 37-year-old finally surrendered to French police at midnight after crossing the border at the Riviera town of Menton.
After an overnight stay in a police station there, he was transferred on Monday morning to a prison in the nearby city of Nice.
The ex-trader brought one of Europe's biggest banks to the brink of bankruptcy in 2008 with wildly risky trades which resulted in a loss of 4.9 billion euros.
Kerviel was convicted in 2010 of breach of trust, forgery and entering false data in relation to the unauthorised trades. His conviction and three-year prison term were upheld in March but an appeal court overturned an order that he pay damages equivalent to the bank's losses.
The prosecutor in Nice, Eric Bedos told AFP that Kerviel "is being detained in the prison at Nice until further notice."
Kerviel has become something of a cause celebre in France, winning support from prominent left-wingers and leading figures in the Roman Catholic Church who believe he has been unfairly made a scapegoat for the shortcomings of the entire banking system.
- 'I was a jerk at the time' -
Kerviel has recently become fond of portraying himself as a simple soul caught up in an orgy of greed who has now recognised the error of his ways.
"Everyone is fed up with this system," he said at the weekend. "I am here to denounce the system and I have a lot of people who want to join me in that.
"I'm ashamed to have been a part of this system. I was a jerk at the time and I am going to spend the rest of my life testifying to that."
Kerviel had been ordered to present himself at a French police station by Sunday at the latest in order to begin his prison term.
He finally complied with the order having said at the weekend he would stay in Italy until he got a response to his request for President Francois Hollande to intervene in the case.
Kerviel said he would not seek a presidential pardon but had asked Hollande to grant immunity to potential witnesses who could testify in his favour.
He said he wanted to detail to Hollande "the serious failings" that led to his conviction. He reversed his decision to stay in Italy after French authorities made it clear they would seek his detention via a European arrest warrant if he did not comply with the order to return to his homeland.
Kerviel has never denied taking on wild bets -- at one point staking 50 billion euros of the bank's money -- but maintains that his bosses were just as much at fault as he was.
The trader was earning a relatively modest 50,000 euros a year in basic salary when the scandal erupted in January 2008. He claims his risk-taking reflected the general culture in the derivatives department he worked in and has always maintained that he was trying to make money for the bank rather than enrich himself.
Six years after his first arrest, French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel was Monday beginning a three-year prison term for his role in the near collapse of Societe Generale bank.
After a weekend of high drama in which he had threatened to stay in Italy in a bid to get President Francois Hollande to intervene in his case, the 37-year-old finally surrendered to French police at midnight after crossing the border at the Riviera town of Menton.
After an overnight stay in a police station there, he was transferred on Monday morning to a prison in the nearby city of Nice.
The ex-trader brought one of Europe’s biggest banks to the brink of bankruptcy in 2008 with wildly risky trades which resulted in a loss of 4.9 billion euros.
Kerviel was convicted in 2010 of breach of trust, forgery and entering false data in relation to the unauthorised trades. His conviction and three-year prison term were upheld in March but an appeal court overturned an order that he pay damages equivalent to the bank’s losses.
The prosecutor in Nice, Eric Bedos told AFP that Kerviel “is being detained in the prison at Nice until further notice.”
Kerviel has become something of a cause celebre in France, winning support from prominent left-wingers and leading figures in the Roman Catholic Church who believe he has been unfairly made a scapegoat for the shortcomings of the entire banking system.
– ‘I was a jerk at the time’ –
Kerviel has recently become fond of portraying himself as a simple soul caught up in an orgy of greed who has now recognised the error of his ways.
“Everyone is fed up with this system,” he said at the weekend. “I am here to denounce the system and I have a lot of people who want to join me in that.
“I’m ashamed to have been a part of this system. I was a jerk at the time and I am going to spend the rest of my life testifying to that.”
Kerviel had been ordered to present himself at a French police station by Sunday at the latest in order to begin his prison term.
He finally complied with the order having said at the weekend he would stay in Italy until he got a response to his request for President Francois Hollande to intervene in the case.
Kerviel said he would not seek a presidential pardon but had asked Hollande to grant immunity to potential witnesses who could testify in his favour.
He said he wanted to detail to Hollande “the serious failings” that led to his conviction. He reversed his decision to stay in Italy after French authorities made it clear they would seek his detention via a European arrest warrant if he did not comply with the order to return to his homeland.
Kerviel has never denied taking on wild bets — at one point staking 50 billion euros of the bank’s money — but maintains that his bosses were just as much at fault as he was.
The trader was earning a relatively modest 50,000 euros a year in basic salary when the scandal erupted in January 2008. He claims his risk-taking reflected the general culture in the derivatives department he worked in and has always maintained that he was trying to make money for the bank rather than enrich himself.
