Societe Generale Uncovers Massive Fraud

In what appears to be the largest trading fraud ever carried out by a single person, a young trader at French bank Societe Generale is accused of making unauthorized bets on stock markets that cost the bank nearly $7.2 billion but may not have netted him a cent.

The bank called the fraud "exceptional in its size and nature," and said it apparently went undetected for more than a year by its own multilayered security systems.

It would place the young trader, identified as 31-year-old Jerome Kerviel, atop the pantheon of rogue traders for a scheme from which bank executives said he apparently did not make a personal profit.

To see the full story.