Jerome Kerviel is jailed for €4.9bn Societe fraud

The French rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, whose crooked dealings nearly led to the demise of Société Générale, has been convicted of breach of trust, among other crimes, and sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison.

Kerviel, 33, was also ordered to pay a "symbolic" €4.9 billion to the bank, which is the amount of money the bank lost as a result of his dealings.

Sentencing Kerviel, Judge Dominique Pauthe said: "By his deliberate actions, he put in peril the existence of a bank that employed 140,000 people, of which he was a part, and whose future was threatened."

Olivier Metzner, Kerviel's lawyer, said he plans to appeal against the judgment and that his client remains free until that appeal has run its course. "This judgment is totally unreasonable," he said. "It suggests that the bank is not responsible for anything, that no system of control could have prevented this.

"Prison is unacceptable for a man who didn't make a penny."

Kerviel was sentenced to five years in prison, two of which are suspended, and barred for life from working in the financial sector. He was charged with breach of trust, forgery and unauthorised use of the bank's computers.

Société Générale said they do not expect the fine, which was roughly equal to its market value at the time of the fraud, would be paid.

Caroline Guillaumin, a spokeswoman for Société Générale, said the damage award was a "symbolic" sum, "but it is important, and we are satisfied, because it recognises that the entirety of the bank's losses are attributed to Jérôme Kerviel's actions".

The rogue bets in the case were some of the biggest ever attributed to a single person and at one point exposed Société Générale to risks that were greater than its own financial value. Kerviel admitted to wrongdoing in court but has always maintained that he was implicitly encouraged by his bosses to take risks, as long as he could make a profit. ·