SocGen says trader seeking $9mn cost $267mn in fines

Bloomberg

Societe Generale SA said a former trader who insists he was made a scapegoat for the bank’s role in a rate-rigging scandal should face up to criminal charges in the UK before a Paris court rules on his bid for more than $9 million in compensation.
The French lender disputed Stephane Esper’s lawsuit at a hearing, saying that employment tribunal judges should hold fire on delivering a decision about the former trader’s claim to avoid prejudging a UK probe in which he faces criminal charges over related facts. Esper has refused to go to Britain, arguing he wouldn’t get a fair trial.
Lionel Vuidard, a lawyer for SocGen, said he was in disbelief at the size of Esper’s demands given that another investigation into Euribor-manipulation allegations run by the European Commission led to the bank being fined about $267 million all because of his actions.
“The bank has already had to pay” millions of euros “for acts of manipulation that, according to the investigation, were committed by Esper,” Vuidard told Paris employment tribunal judges, referring to the EU fine issued in Euros. “Now, he’s requesting $9.4 million. That’s a bit strong.”

EU Decision
While Esper’s name doesn’t officially come up in the EU’s fining decision, the Frenchman was among 11 traders the UK’s Serious Fraud Office accused in 2015 of conspiring to rig the euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor. But the London trial, which eventually took place earlier this year, fell short of British prosecutors’ expectations: only four defendants appeared in court and none of them were found guilty.
Courts in France and Germany blocked the extradition of Esper and four former Deutsche Bank AG employees. Days before the start of the London court case, former Barclays Plc trader Philippe Moryoussef said he wouldn’t appear and was seeking refuge in France, with his lawyer justifying this decision by saying he was unlikely to get a fair trial.
Alexia Boursier, Esper’s lawyer, told Paris judges that her client should be defended by Societe Generale in proceedings against him as the allegations relate to actions he undertook as part of his duties at the bank.
Instead, she said, the bank has consistently refused to do so and designated him as the sole person responsible in the so-called Euribor scandal via a press release where his identity could easily be recognised.
“He was the perfect scapegoat” given that he’d left the bank already by then, Esper’s lawyer said. “To contain the fire, the bank chose to designate one culprit.”
Before he left Societe Generale in 2009, Esper worked in Paris as a trader of European interest-rate swaps.