Idiot: Rogue trader relied on clairvoyants for advice

PARIS: The French banker accused of gambling up

to $109 billion on the sharemarket relied on clairvoyants to predict the future.

Even when arrested for losing $7.7 billion at Societe Generale, Jerome Kerviel asked his brother: "Can you find me the number of a telephone psychic?" After an astrological reading, Kerviel conceded that he faced a "black future".

The disclosures are contained in Paris court documents. Kerviel, 32, has admitted that he went "a bit too far" and that he "got carried away" as he amassed his losses. He claims his bosses turned a blind eye to his high-risk strategy.

It was only when his bank's record losses were finally made public a year ago that Kerviel told his brother, Olivier: "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."

Kerviel, who now works as an IT consultant, is on bail, facing charges of breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers. If found guilty following a trial due to start next year, he could get up to three years in jail and a $650,000 fine.

Societe Generale has denied emphatically that it knew that he was running up such massive losses.

LNK

Idiot: Rogue trader relied on clairvoyants for advice

Idiot: Rogue trader relied on clairvoyants for advice

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