Alleged rogue trader Jerome Kerviel went on trial in Paris on Tuesday, accused of unauthorised deals that cost French bank Société Générale €5-billion.
Kerviel, dressed in a dark suit and purple tie, spoke only to confirm his personal details at the start of the trial due to last three weeks.
The 33-year-old Frenchman is accused of gambling away €4,9-billion in risky stock-market trades in 2008 and of hiding these actions from his employers at Société Générale.
The court must decide whether he is solely responsible for the losses in a case seen as a symbol of the banking excesses blamed for the financial crisis.
Branded a crook by his ex-employer but seen by others as a scapegoat for those higher up, Kerviel faces criminal charges along with civil suits by the bank and other plaintiffs, including employees and shareholders.
Kerviel risks a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of €375 000 if convicted on charges of breach of trust, falsifying and using fake documents and entering false data into company computers. — AFP