Ex-Societe Generale Exec Kerviel Sentenced in Trading Scandal

A French judge sentenced former trader Jerome Kerviel to three years in prison and ordered him to repay a 4.9 billion euro ($6.8 billion) in damages to Societe Generale SA (SCGLY) for his role in one of the largest trading scandal's in history.

Judge Dominique Pauthe found Kerviel, 33, guilty of computer hacking and breach of trust and said that his actions threatened the bank's existence, Bloomberg News reported.

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"By his deliberate actions, he put in peril the existence of the bank that employed 140,000 people, of which he was a part, and whose future was threatened," Pauthe said.

Kerviel has admitted that he exceeded trading limits and lied to his co-workers, but said that his superiors were aware of his actions.

When Societe Generale announced the loss in 2008, the bank's then-CEO Daniel Bouton described Kerviel as a "terrorist."

Kerviel plans to appeal the ruling.

"Prison is unacceptable for a man who didn't make a penny," Olivier Metzner, Kerviel's lawyer, said.