New York (HedgeCo.Net) – French officials have arrested a trader who allegedly lost more than $1 billion in complex derivative trades.  Boris Picano-Nacci of mutual bank Caisse d’Epargne was taken in for questioning last week, days after the loss forced the bank’s top three executives to part ways. 

Prosecutors in Paris are currently investigating whether or not they can nail the 33-year-old trader for a possible breach of trust. 

A copy of the bank’s internal investigation was said to have been obtained by French news magazine Nouvel Observateur, when they published the findings on Wednesday.   
According to that report, Caisse d’Epargne found lax internal controls and several alerts that had been disregarded.

The bank has stated that this was an error made by a small team of traders, who made a bad bet on the direction of the stock market while exceeding their trading risk limit. 

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde revealed that an initial investigation had uncovered “serious holes” in the bank’s controls. 

This is the second trading scandal to rock a French bank this year.  Societe Generale made headlines in January for its $7 billion loss thanks to 31-year-old rogue trader Jerome Kerviel.

Caisse d’Epargne is currently planning a merger with French mutual lender Banque Populaire.    

Julie Scuderi
Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: julie@hedgeco.net

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Miami Herald- Database provider InfoGROUP Inc. said Tuesday it has removed founder Vin Gupta as chairman, citing excessive corporate expenditures and expense reimbursements.

The changes are the result of an internal investigation, which came in response to an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and a shareholder lawsuit. Gupta will continue to serve as chief executive officer of the company, which used to be named InfoUSA.

The company also said Gupta has "orally agreed" with the Board of Directors’ Special Litigation Committee to pay InfoGROUP $9 million. According to a news release, the payment is subject to a settlement agreement and court approval, but it’s not clear if it is referring to settlement of the shareholders lawsuit.

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