The French banker accused of gambling up to £50 billion on the stock exchange relied on clairvoyants to predict the future, it emerged yesterday
Even when arrested for losing £3.5 billion at Societe Generale, Jerome Kerviel asked his brother: “Can you find me the number of a telephone psychic?” After an astrologic reading, Kerviel conceded that he faced a “black future” up to and including a trial and lengthy spell in prison.
The extraordinary revelations are contained in Paris court documents.
Kerviel, 32, has admitted that he went “a bit too far” in his gambling, and that he “got carried away” as he amassed his losses.
He claims his bosses at Societe Generale turned a blind eye to his high-risk trading strategy.
It was only when his bank’s record losses were finally made public a year ago that Kerviel told his brother Olivier Kerviel: “I can’t do it anymore, I’m cracking up, because mum and dad have abandoned me, I know I’m going to go to prison, I can’t eat, I’m always vomiting, I’m in black shit, it stinks for me.”
Kerviel is now on bail, facing charges of breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers.
If found guilty following a trial due to start in 2010, he could get up to three years in jail and a £300,000 fine.
Kerviel, originally from Brittany in northern France, is now working as an IT consultant in Paris, earning around £40,000 a year.
Societe Generale has denied emphatically that it knew that Kerviel was running up such massive losses.
By Peter Allen in Paris
Last Updated: 5:30PM GMT 15 Feb 2009
Source: The Telegraph