Can't make this up!

Well it seems that Trader Kerviel is Under 24-Hour Police Protection The 31-year-old Kerviel was given 24-hour protection following a special request from the finance ministry, officials said.

I mean after SocGen management claimed he was a loner, evil genuis, hacker, and lost his Dad and his grrrrlfriend I hope the guy isn't that depressed and didn't commit suicide, that would eliminate his testimony later as French justice slowly unravels. Misery has company and it seems like Kerviel is in good company, now the The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York is taking the lead, the source said, referring to the investigation of Robert A. Day, a board member of Societe Generale and investment manager of U.S.-based Trust Co of the West.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is also probing stock sales by Day and by two foundations associated with him, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on its Web site on Monday.

Day and the foundations sold about $140 million of the bank's stock some two weeks before the bank notified its board about the $7.3 billion in trading losses, the Journal said, quoting unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

But the more the merrier!

Along with the continuing investigation into Kerviel, SocGen faces another legal challenge with the start yesterday of a high-profile money laundering trial that covers events dating back to the 1990s.

SocGen is one of four banks due to appear at the Paris Criminal Court in a trial known as Sentier 2, due to its links with the capital's Sentier textile district.


The other three banks are Societe Marseillaise de Credit, Barclays France and the National Bank of Pakistan.


The chairman of SocGen, Daniel Bouton, and three other bank officials are due to appear in the Paris court in connection with the case.

The alleged laundering took place between 1996 and 2001 in Sentier, and involved stolen or fraudulent cheques shuttled between France and Israel.

SocGen reiterated on Sunday that it had not taken part in any money laundering.

More than 135 people and four French banks _ including already embattled Societe Generale _ went on trial in Paris on Monday on charges they abetted a money laundering operation between France and Israel. (and pakistan)