Finkelstein Thompson LLP is investigating potential claims on behalf of purchasers of American Depositary Shares ("ADS") of Societe General SPO ("Societe Generale" or the "Company").

On January 24, 2008, Societe Generale issued a statement publicly revealing for the first time that it had uncovered a fraud where one of the Company's traders, Jerome Kerviel, ran a staggering 50 billion euro ($73.63 billion) position on European equity index futures contracts. By falsifying documents and misappropriating computer access codes, Kerviel was able to create fictitious trades to make it appear that his positions had been covered when in fact they remained open and unhedged.

Without informing investors of the Company's pending losses, from January 21 to January 23, Societe General decided to unwind approximately 50 billion euros of uncovered futures positions built by Kerviel. After the Company closed these positions, Societe Generale's losses from the fraud expanded to 4.9 billion euros ($7.14 billion), the largest such loss in banking history. Following the Company's disclosure of the scandal on January 24, 2008, Societe Generale ADS price fell to $22.30 on unusually heavy trading volume, a 23% drop in share price since the beginning of the year.

Although Societe Generale stated it had not discovered the fraud until January 18, 2008, Paris Prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin revealed that the Eurex derivatives exchange alerted Societe Generale to suspicions concerning positions taken by Kerviel as early as November 2007. Marin added that Kerviel believed he benefited from a "certain tolerance" from Societe Generale and that other traders also "played fast and loose with bank rules." In addition, on January 10, 2008, one week before the Company's initial disclosure of the fraud, Societe Generale director Robert Day dumped 85.7 million euros in shares. Two trusts associated with Day also sold large chunks of shares the same day for another 9.6 million euros.

If you are a ADS-holder of Societe Generale and wish to discuss your rights and interests as an investor, please contact our Washington, D.C. office toll-free at (877) 337-1050 or by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .