Jerome Kerviel is best known as the trader who lost the largest amount of money in the world. He was convicted and imprisoned in 2008 for breach of trust, forgery and unauthorized use of computers.
Jerome Kerviel was born on 11, 1977 in Pont-l’Abbé, Brittany, France to Marie-Josée (a retired hairdresser) and Charles (a blacksmith). He was raised alongside an older brother named Olivier.
Regarding his educational background, Jerome Kerviel graduated from the University of Nantes with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Jerome Kerviel later graduated from Lumière University Lyon 2 in 2000 with a Master of Finance specializing in organization and control of financial markets.
Jerome Kerviel was taken into police custody on 26 January 2008 after the Société Générale (SocGen) bank where he worked as a junior trader filed a lawsuit for fraud, breach of trust and forgery against him. He was formally charged on 28 January 2008 with abuse of confidence and illegal access to computers.
This was after Jerome Kerviel’s employers uncovered unauthorized trading linked to him on 19 January 2008. Kerviel had amassed a stock index futures position of US$73 billion by January 9, 2008, which ended up costing Societe Generale (SocGen) US$7.2 billion.
