French ‘rogue’ trader did no wrong: his lawyers

   PARIS, Jan 28, 2008  – Lawyers for Jerome Kerviel, the trader fingered
in the Societe Generale scandal, said Sunday he had "committed no dishonest
act, did not siphon off a single cent, and did not profit in any way".
   Elisabeth Meyer and Christian Charriere-Bournazel also accused the bank of
trying to "create a smokescreen which would divert public attention from
losses that were significantly more substantial than those it accumulated in
recent months," notably in the midst of the US subprime mortgage crisis.
   They went on to accuse Societe Generale of having liquidated with needless
haste the positions — said by the bank to be in the vicinity of 50 billion
euros — that Kerviel had taken.

AFP