2008 Société Générale trading loss 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 to his superiors and that the losses were caused by panic selling by
Jérôme Kerviel a profit made the hierarchy turn a blind eye. Kerviel published a book in May 2010, "L'engrenage: Mémoires d’un Trader" (The gears: Memoirs of a Trader), in which he alleges that his superiors knew of his trading activities, and that the practice was very common. Jérôme Kerviel grew up in Pont-l'Abbé, Brittany. His mother, Marie-Josée, is a retired hairdresser, and his father, Charles, who died in 2006, was a blacksmith. Kerviel has an older brother, Olivier. Kerviel is married, but he and his wife separated in 2008. He graduated in 2000 from University Lumière Lyon 2 with a Master of