FRANCE: FINANCIER GORGE SOROS FINED 2.2 MILLION EUROS FOR INSIDER TRADING, FOR MAKING MONEY ON SHARES IN BANK SOCIETE GENERALE.
Record ID:
643511
FRANCE: FINANCIER GORGE SOROS FINED 2.2 MILLION EUROS FOR INSIDER TRADING, FOR MAKING MONEY ON SHARES IN BANK SOCIETE GENERALE.
- Title: FRANCE: FINANCIER GORGE SOROS FINED 2.2 MILLION EUROS FOR INSIDER TRADING, FOR MAKING MONEY ON SHARES IN BANK SOCIETE GENERALE.
- Date: 20th December 2002
- Summary: (W5) PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 20, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: EXTERIOR OF PALACE OF JUSTICE. 0.05 2. WS/INTERIOR: REPORTERS WAITING IN FRONT OF COURTROOM. 0.09 3. MV: POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF COURTROOM. 0.12 4. SLV/TRACK: LEBANESE BUSINESSMAN SAMIR TRABOULSI'S LAWYER, MAITRE METZNER, WALKING ALONG AND ENTERING COURTROOM 0.21 5. LAS/MV: POLICEMAN STANDING OUTSIDE COUTROOM DOORS. 0.24 6. MV: LAWYERS COMING OUT OF COURTROOM. 0.30 7. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) TRABOULSI'S LAWYER MAITRE METZNER SAYING: "I am delighted that after fourteen years of efforts, I have obtained his acquital. I'm just sad that it took so long but I can only be delighted to have obtained the innocence of Samir Traboulsi in an affair which has attracted so much attention across the world. He had been initially considered guilty because of his name. Justice has finally been done and today the court admits that Mr Traboulsi never took advantage of his privilege position in any way." 1.05 8. SLV/TRACK: : GEORGE SOROS' LAWYER BERNARD DU GRANRUT WALKING DOWN STEPS. 1.10 9. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) BERNARD DU GRANRUT SAYING: "I'm amazed by the sentence but as long as I've not read the ruling, I can't say anything because I'm respectful of my duty and my professional obligations." 1.25 10. MV: BERNARD DU GRANRUT WALKING ALONG SURROUNDED BY REPORTERS. 1.30 11. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) GRANRUT SAYING: "We therefore reserve the right to appeal, but I have to consult with Mr. Soros." (QUESTION : WHY THIS SENTENCE FOR HIM IF TWO OTHERS HAVE BEEN ACQUITED ?) GRANRUT: "Because in the particular circumstances of Mr. Soros' acquisition, serious important elements had been neglected and overlooked by the court." "I have twenty-four hours to blame my judges." 2.27 12. MV/TRACK: LAWYER BERNARD DU GRANRUT LEAVING. 2.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 4th January 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA4RZOLCDW08OE361VK186C7VPJ
- Story Text: A Paris court on Friday (December 20) found U.S.
billionaire George Soros guilty of using inside information to
make money on shares in bank Societe Generale, fining him 2.2
million euros.
Hungarian-born Soros, 72, was convicted of using insider
information of a botched 1988 corporate raid on Societe
Generale to make 2 million U.S. dollars (USD) on the company's
stock. The financier turned philanthropist had denied the
allegations.
Soros was not in court but his lawyer immediately said he
was amazed by the sentence and that the judgement did not take
into account most of the arguments he presented and therefore,
he would study a possible appeal.
"The judgement did not take into account most of the
arguments we presented," Bernard du Granrut told Reuters. "We
therefore reserve the right to appeal, but I have to
consult with Mr Soros," he added.
Two others on trial, Lebanese businessman Samir Traboulsi
and ex-finance ministry official Jean-Charles Naouri, were
acquitted by the court.
Samir Traboulsi's lawyer, Mr Metzner said that he was
delighted to have obtained his acquital after fourteen years
of effort.
"I'm just sad that it took so long but I can only be
delighted to have obtained the innocence of Samir Traboulsi in
an affair which has attracted so much attention across the
world. He had been initially considered guilty because of his
name. Justice has finally been done and today the court admits
that Mr Traboulsi never took advantage of his privilege
position in any way", said Metzner.
Soros is best known as "The Man Who Broke the Pound" for
betting against sterling in 1992 until London pulled out of
the European currency grid that prefigured the euro single
currency.
The court judgement follows the fine urged by prosecutors,
who did not seek a jail sentence -- rare but theoretically
possible punishment for insider trading under French law.
Lawyers for Soros had argued the case was too old to
judge. It took 14 years to come to trial because of delays in
securing information from authorities in the Netherlands,
Britain, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The financier told the court last month that the planned
raid on Societe Generale was common knowledge in financial
markets and he had not obtained any confidential information.
The 1987 privatisation of Societe Generale a year before
the raid attempt was hailed as a success for the French
political right, in government at the time in an uneasy
power-sharing arrangement with Socialist President Francois Mitterrand.
Soros said he bought the shares because he thought the
raid, aimed at flushing out a hard core of shareholders seen
as having links to the right, would free the bank from
political influence.
But he said a series of subsequent meetings in Paris
convinced him this was unlikely to be the case and he sold the
shares, bought as part of a 50 million USD package that
included shares in other banks.
The court heard Soros made an estimated 2 million USD
profit from buying and selling the shares. The raid failed to
attract sufficient support from other investors and did not
come off.
Soros's Quantum Fund made nearly 1 billion USD in 1992 by
betting against sterling. But it was hammered by huge losses
in April 2000 due to an ill-timed move into high-tech stocks.
Since then Soros has set about using his fortune and
network of foundations to help tackle what he sees as the
failures of a global financial market system which penalises
poor countries.
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