SocGen rogue trader Jerome Kerviel 'hit the jackpot' on 7/7 LondonTimesOnline January 23, 2009

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5568518.ece

http://www.infowars.com/?p=7308

January 23, 2009
SocGen rogue trader Jerome Kerviel 'hit the jackpot' on 7/7
Jerome Kerviel

(John Schults/Reuters)

Jérôme Kerviel, right, and his lawyer leave a hearing in Paris after being questioned by magistrates
Adam Sage in Paris

It was a day of carnage that left 56 people dead and a dark shadow for ever cast over the history of London. But for Jérôme Kerviel, the French rogue trader, 7/7 was the jackpot.

Mr Kerviel, whose wild bets on the stock market ended with record losses, celebrated as Britain’s worst terror attack helped him to register a €500,000 profit and to continue a winning streak that brought him “orgasmic pleasure”.

The trader made the confession as he told the newspaper Le Parisien how he had lost touch with reality in the pursuit of money-making at Société Générale, the bank that employed him. It is alleged that his rogue dealings resulted in record losses of almost €5 billion and plunged the 144-year-old French financial institution into crisis.

Mr Kerviel, who was questioned by magistrates yesterday, is under investigation on suspicion of breach of trust, fabricating documents and accessing computers illegally. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if found guilty.
Related Links

* How the financial system nearly crashed in 2008

* SocGen new accounts dive after trader scandal

The trader, 32, claimed that his colleagues and superiors had been aware of his actions, which brought him the nickname of le cash machine. He painted a damning picture of the bank’s trading room as earnings soared in the years before the financial crisis.

“The best trading day in the history of Société Générale was September 11, 2001,” he said. “At least, that’s what one of my managers told me. It seems that profits were colossal that day.

“I had a similar experience during the London attacks in July 2005.”

A few days earlier he had bet on a fall in the share price of Allianz, the German insurance giant, he told Le Parisien. Everyone was losing money when the 7/7 bombings sent the insurance sector into a downward spiral “except for me”, he said. “Thanks to the positions I had, I earned €500,000 in a few minutes. It was the jackpot. I was jubilant.”

After the celebrations Mr Kerviel said he paused for thought. “I understood that I was having fun when people had just been hit by the bombs. I ran to the toilet and I was sick. But the moment of weakness did not last long. I went back into the trading room and I returned to work.”

Mr Kerviel also spoke of his financial triumphs in the months leading up to the discovery of his unauthorised trades in January last year. “From August to December 2007, I win every day,” he said. “That creates a sort of addiction. A good day for a normal trader is a profit of €30,000 to €40,000. For me, a €1 million day is rubbish. I take crazy risks. And I make astronomic profits which sometimes give me an orgasmic pleasure.”

He denounced his former colleagues as hypocrites for claiming that they had no idea of his deals after he ran up a profit of €1.4 billion in 2007. “I covered the losses of several of my colleagues,” he said.

Mr Kerviel sought to distance himself from his comments after their publication in Le Parisien, saying that they stemmed from a private conversation and were taken out of context. The newspaper said that he met its journalist six times for on-the-record interviews at the request of his lawyers.

Losing bet

2000 Jérôme Kerviel joins Société Générale

January 18, 2008 Bank investigates after transactions raise red flags

January 19 Kerviel begins to admit to unauthorised trading activity

January 20 Total exposure to trades is pinned at €5 billion

January 24 SocGen asks for its shares to be suspended

January 25 Kerviel named as “rogue trader”

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http://www.infowars.com/?p=7308
“Rogue” Trader Highlights Possible 9/11 and 7/7 Insider Trading

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Friday, Jan 23rd, 2009

According to an article in The London Times today, Société Générale rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel profited enormously on the day of the 7/7 London bombings. He has also revealed how his company made huge profits on September 11th 2001, prompting some to return to questions over insider foreknowledge of both terrorist attacks.

The article states:

“The best trading day in the history of Société Générale was September 11, 2001,” he said. “At least, that’s what one of my managers told me. It seems that profits were colossal that day.

“I had a similar experience during the London attacks in July 2005.”

A few days earlier he had bet on a fall in the share price of Allianz, the German insurance giant, he told Le Parisien. Everyone was losing money when the 7/7 bombings sent the insurance sector into a downward spiral “except for me”, he said. “Thanks to the positions I had, I earned €500,000 in a few minutes. It was the jackpot. I was jubilant.”

After the celebrations Mr Kerviel said he paused for thought. “I understood that I was having fun when people had just been hit by the bombs. I ran to the toilet and I was sick. But the moment of weakness did not last long. I went back into the trading room and I returned to work.”

Kerviel was charged almost exactly one year ago in the Société Générale trading loss incident which cost the financial services company an estimated €4.9 billion.

Until the Bernard Madoff fraud incident last month, it was reported to be the largest fraud in banking history.

Société Générale claimed that Kerviel worked the trades alone, and without its authorization. Kerviel told investigators that such practices are widespread and that huge profits routinely give the upper echelons of financial institutions cause to turn a blind eye.

Many questions have been raised regarding massive trades that foreshadowed the events of 9/11, with put options placed in large quantities against American and United Airliners in the days immediately prior to the attacks.

The investigation as to who was responsible for authorizing the transactions led directly back to former CIA director Buzzy Krongard.

In the case of the London bombings, the pound fell 6 per cent against the dollar for no apparent reason in the days before the attack.

"Currencies of established countries simply do not fall that fast based upon any kind of economic or financial analysis," said a 35 year veteran economist. "Somebody – somewhere – knew something. Or maybe I should say ’somebodies.’"

It is considered that such anomalous activity betrays prior knowledge of the incidents.

We have since seen other suspicious trading incidents dovetailing with foiled terror attacks. Specifically, in August 2006, surrounding the infamous "liquid bomb plot" and one year later in August 2007 with the so-called "Bin Laden trades" when a mystery trader placed 245,000 put options on the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index.