Rogue Trader Jerome Kerviel Arrested, Faces Three Years in Jail

Convicted Societe Generale rogue trader Jerome Kerviel surrendered to French authorities on 18 May and will serve a three-year jail sentence.

Kerviel spent the weekend on the Franco-Italian boarder refusing to cross into France unless president François Hollande intervened in his case, reported the Financial Times.

However, Hollande's aides said that there were "no plans" to meet with Kerviel's representatives while Finance Minister Michel Sapin described Kerviel as a "crook" who must serve out his sentence, according to reports.

Kerviel had been on a bizarre three-month reverse-pilgrimage from Rome to Paris in a stand against the "tyranny of the markets" after his meeting with Pope Francis.

The former banker had met Pope Francis outside the Vatican on 19 February. The two discussed what the pope called the "tyranny of the markets" as Kerviel sought divine help through "God's representative on earth" in his legal struggle.

Kerviel was sentenced to three years in prison for making unauthorised trades that lost the French investment bank €4.9bn (£3.9bn, $6.7bn).

French regulators got SocGen to pay a €4m fine for failures in its risk control systems following the scandal.

A 2008 poll revealed that 77% of French respondents viewed the former trader as a "victim". His story has inspired a fan club, a comic book called Le Journal de Jérôme Kerviel and a movie titled Avis de Tempête (Storm Warning).