French rogue trader admits to concealing high-risk deals

FRENCH trader Jerome Kerviel admitted to concealing multi-billion-dollar deals at Societe Generale, a prosecutor said yesterday, as the bank was hit by insider trading allegations and a plunging share price.

The 31-year-old junior trader appeared before a Paris investigating judge who was expected to formally charge him as a group of shareholders took legal action over a sale by a US member of the bank’s supervisory board.

Kerviel admitted “he carried out a certain number of acts to conceal reckless positions on the markets,” said prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin.