{"id":960,"date":"2010-06-24T21:35:05","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T21:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=960"},"modified":"2010-07-23T17:24:54","modified_gmt":"2010-07-23T17:24:54","slug":"kerviel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/kerviel\/","title":{"rendered":"Jer\u00f4me KERVIEL: \u00abTraitor Trader\u00bb ou \u00abBouc \u00e9missaire\u00bb?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“SCANDAL<\/strong>“: A seven-letter word that somehow seems to\u00a0have morphed into\u00a0“le<\/em> ma\u00eetre<\/em>-mot” <\/em>(the “catchword”, or the “buzzword”) in France these days.<\/p>\n

While the affaire Anelka<\/strong> <\/em>is still unfolding, with the new implication of Thierry\u00a0Henry<\/strong>,\u00a0accused to be one of the masterminds\u00a0behind the mutin\u00e9e\u00a0<\/em>and la gr\u00e8ve <\/em>(the strike) directed against the Coach Domenech<\/strong>, another scandal, relatively old,\u00a0is taking a new turn today, centering around the elusive\u00a0character of Jer\u00f4me Kerviel<\/strong>, who\u00a0ought in many aspects\u00a0to be regarded as an “Anelka of finance<\/strong>” of sorts.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xnIEIwaHBOs<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0reason behind\u00a0the parallel <\/em>can be appreciated\u00a0in light of their own\u00a0roles\u00a0in hastening\u00a0their self-disgrace, as much as for the fact that they could also serve as a convenient bouc \u00e9missaire<\/em> (scapegoat)\u00a0in lieu <\/em>of other prominent\u00a0figures\u00a0who\u00a0deserve to be\u00a0equally blamed, if not more.<\/p>\n

Cela dit <\/em>(that being said), <\/em>who is Jer\u00f4me Kerviel<\/strong>, and what did he do?<\/p>\n

His PDG (meaning CEO)\u00a0at the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale<\/strong>, <\/em>Daniel Bouton<\/strong>, who is an \u00c9narque<\/strong> (see “<\/em>What is an \u00c9narque<\/em><\/a>?<\/strong>“), has been quite at a\u00a0loss to determine le mot juste <\/em>which would, in his eyes,\u00a0be most fitting to define his managerial\u00a0subordonn\u00e9 <\/em>(subordonate): “Cet escroc, ce fraudeur, ce terroriste, je ne sais pas.<\/em>” (“This crook, this swindler, this terrorist, I don’t know.”)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not terribly flattering, indeed.<\/p>\n

In fact, Kerviel has been held responsible for the highest financial loss <\/strong>known <\/strong>in l’histoire de France<\/em>, estimated at 5 milliards d’euros<\/em>\u00a0(5 billion euros), and\u00a0is only overshadowed into second place on the interantional scene\u00a0by New York’s veteran Ponzi schemer\u00a0Bernie Madoff<\/strong>, whose fraudulent investment fund caused\u00a0l’\u00e9vaporation<\/em> <\/strong>of about\u00a0$18 billions.<\/p>\n

The other widely-known mammoth\u00a0financial fiascos include le Canadien<\/em>\u00a0Brian Hunter’s <\/strong>in 2006 (almost $7bn.); Cr\u00e9dit Lyonnais <\/strong>vs.\u00a0Giancarlo Parreti<\/strong>, l’homme d’affaire<\/em> (the businessman) who aspired for long to\u00a0put his hands over the\u00a0famous\u00a0soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de production\u00a0<\/em>Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer <\/strong>in 1990 ($5 bn.); LTCM’s<\/strong> John Meriwether <\/strong>in 1998 (almost $5bn); and finally, to name\u00a0un cas c\u00e9l\u00e8bre <\/em>(a\u00a0famous case), Nick Leeson<\/strong>, l’Anglais <\/em>(the English) who\u00a0is credited with\u00a0la chute <\/em>(the downfall) of the oldest banque d’investissement<\/em>\u00a0(investment bank) in England in 1995, the age-old\u00a0Barings bank!<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6Hr6MXdXkYo<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerviel is\u00a0a 33-year old\u00a0Breton<\/strong><\/em>, which means that he is from the region of la Bretagne <\/em>(Brittany.) He joined Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale exactly ten years ago, and started as an op\u00e9rateur de bourse<\/strong> <\/em>(or “trader”, which is also a usual term\u00a0in France), dealing with the highly\u00a0speculative\u00a0produits d\u00e9riv\u00e9s financiers<\/strong> <\/em>(financial derivatives), the very same instruments which are targeted as of late\u00a0by the ministres de finance europ\u00e9ens <\/em>as a protective measure, especially in Germany<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

De mani\u00e8re plus sp\u00e9cifique <\/em>(more specifically), Kerviel is accused of having exceeded his authorit\u00e9<\/em>, by trading undetected\u00a0amounts that even\u00a0dwarfed\u00a0la capitalisation boursi\u00e8re<\/strong> <\/em>(the market capitalization<\/strong>) <\/strong>of\u00a0his company. He was seemingly able to accomplish all that thanks to an elaborate syst\u00e8me de fraude <\/em>which masked the true volume and size of his trades.<\/p>\n

Today, mardi le 24 juin 2010<\/strong><\/em>, the judge sentenced him to cinq ans de prison<\/strong> <\/em>(five years of prison.)<\/p>\n

Jer\u00f4me, however, has always\u00a0maintained that his superiors\u00a0ont du savoir <\/em>(must have known)\u00a0about his trading bets, that they even profited from\u00a0them,\u00a0and that he was finally\u00a0designated as nothing more than\u00a0an expandable “bouc \u00e9missaire<\/em>“, mainly to\u00a0divert the general attention from the fact that the company had heavily lost on the subprime market: A key\u00a0information which\u00a0happened to be\u00a0released le m\u00eame jour <\/em>(the same day)\u00a0as the “scandal Kerviel<\/em>” was publically announced.<\/p>\n

That and more he explains in his book, which came out last month: “L\u2019engrenage: M\u00e9moires d\u2019un Trader<\/a><\/strong>“<\/em> (“Gears: Memoires of a Trader<\/strong>.”)<\/p>\n

Finally, and sur un ton moins grave<\/em>\u00a0(on a lighter note),\u00a0here are a few\u00a0\u00a0“fun facts<\/a><\/strong>” and blagues <\/em>about le ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne <\/em>(the phenomenon)\u00a0Kerviel!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“SCANDAL“: A seven-letter word that somehow seems to\u00a0have morphed into\u00a0“le ma\u00eetre-mot” (the “catchword”, or the “buzzword”) in France these days. While the affaire Anelka is still unfolding, with the new implication of Thierry\u00a0Henry,\u00a0accused to be one of the masterminds\u00a0behind the mutin\u00e9e\u00a0and la gr\u00e8ve (the strike) directed against the Coach Domenech, another scandal, relatively old,\u00a0is taking…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9665,9678,9670,9684,4448,4449,9672,9681,9668,9679,9667,8222,9673,9664,9676,9675,9674,9680,9677,9669,9671,9637,9666,9682,9683],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-affaire-anelka","tag-barings-bank","tag-bernie-madoff","tag-bouc-emissaire","tag-bretagne","tag-breton","tag-brian-hunter","tag-capitalisation-boursiere","tag-daniel-bouton","tag-derives-financiers","tag-domenech","tag-enarque","tag-giancarlo-parreti","tag-jerome-kerviel","tag-john-meriwether","tag-ltcm","tag-metro-goldwyn-mayer","tag-ministre-des-finance","tag-nick-leeson","tag-pdg","tag-ponzi-scheme","tag-scandal","tag-thierry-henry","tag-trader","tag-traitor"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t