Funniest thing I’ve read (so far) this morning (emphasis mine):

“… a French lawyer acting for 100 small shareholders said he had sued Société Générale over the way it had unwound Kerviel’s fraudulent share deals last week, Reuters reported.

The lawyer, Frederik-Karel Canoy, said the bank should have informed markets about its pending losses before embarking on a selling spree from Jan. 21 through Jan. 23 to unwind the €50 billion of risk exposure built up by Kerviel.”

Yep, they should have shouted from the rooftops, hey! we’re stuck long $73 billion in the Eurostoxx, DAX, and FTSE; we’re already sitting on $2 billion in losses; do you guys wanna buy some from us?

Details on the exposure from this W$J article (emphasis mine):

“As of Jan. 18 — the day Mr. Kerviel’s ruse went astray — Société Générale had €18 billion of exposure to the DAX, €30 billion exposure to the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 and €2 billion to the FTSE 100 Index in London, according to Mr. Mustier. All of these exposures were established this year in a short period of time, he said.”

Presumably after Jerome received his insulting €1500 bonus.