Kerviel. Scene 1. Take 1.

Poor Jérôme Kerviel. Fame is often hard won, infamy easier so.

His dubious accolade as the top of the rogue trader league has unearthed an unsavoury insight into Société Générale, and raised questions over just how much of a blind eye was turned to Kerviel’s sleights of hand.

Remember, that at one stage the young Kerviel was making substantial profits on his unauthorised deals – so much so, in fact, that he didn’t even know how to come clean and tell his superiors that he made almost €1.5bn for the bank. Instead, he continued to hide his activities, leading to the mess that he, and the bank, find themselves in now. But Kerviel’s testimony to date has also exposed some lax supervision. He took no holiday in 2007, afraid to hand over his positions to a colleague who would undoubtedly smell a rat. But no-one seemed perturbed that Kerviel wasn’t heading for the slopes or the Côte d’Azur for a few days’ break. Even he has expressed surprise that the biggest warning bell of all – his unwillingness to relinquish his positions – went completely ignored.

And what life for Kerviel now? Book rights, a movie? Or, as in Nick Leeson’s case, commercial manager of a non-descript football team in the west of Ireland. It’s a big come down from quaffing champagne and downing cocktails in Singapore.

But John Rusnak, the US trader who racked up a $700m loss at AIB’s subsidiary Allfirst, seemed like he was already thinking of the movie synopsis before he was shipped off to prison to serve over seven years. What’s more, he also claimed he was in a similar frame of mind to Kerviel, his conscience nagging at him to own up. But that was at a stage when Rusnak was $100m in the red, not even making a profit.

In Rusnak’s last interview, with the Baltimore Sun, before he went to prison, he spoke about how he could have stolen almost any amount he wanted to from Allfirst.

“I had a lot of authority,” he said. “If I was looking to profit, I would have shipped $20m out of the country and then left. There was very little oversight. But that's not what happened." He said he realised he was in a spot of bother when he had lost a "minuscule" amount - $100m.

"Every single day I was there, I should have reported the losses and stopped trading," he continued. "It was my inability to say no and admit failure. I worried every day, and every night I couldn't sleep. I knew I was betraying people's trust.”

But here’s where the appeal, surely, for the Hollywood types should have kicked in. Rusnak had to tell his kids he was going to prison.

"We're still going to be a family,” he told them. “But Daddy did something wrong. It's like someone cheated on a test at school. I cheated at work, and then I told the truth. And now I have to go away for a while." Perhaps not Oscar potential, but it has TV movie written all over it.

Kerviel should pay heed. He’s likely going to have a few years in a confined space to ponder his past. He’ll have to think of a new way to make a living. Script consultant may just be one of them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/01/27/ccsocgen127.xml

http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?_scope=TribuneFTF&id=10321&SUBCAT=&SUBCATNAME=&DT=02/02/2003%2000:00:00&keywords=kleenex&FC=

http://www.baltimoresun.com

http://www.jeromekerviel.com