2008 Société Générale trading loss a role in the market's overall decline, but characterized that impact as "minimal". 2008 Société Générale trading loss In January 2008, the bank Société Générale lost approximately €4.9 billion closing out positions over three days of trading beginning January 21, 2008, a period in which the market was experiencing a large drop in equity indices. The bank states these positions were fraudulent transactions created by Jérôme Kerviel, a trader with the company. The police stated they lacked evidence to charge him with fraud and charged him with breach of trust and illegally accessing computers. Kerviel states his actions were known
Commodity Futures Trading Commission unlimited positions. These exemptions came to light only after the 2008 financial crisis had unfolded and Congress requested information on market participants. A trader or bank granted an exemption as a bona-fide hedger can affect the price of a commodity without being either its producer or consumer. In December 2007 during the subprime mortgage crisis, the CFTC began investigating transportation, storage and trading of U.S. crude oil for price manipulation, which included a probe of U.S. crude oil futures. By May 2008, when the price of crude oil futures showed a meteoric rise of 40% to a record $US 135