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Journalism of Courage
DEC 23: A Paris magistrate has ordered US financier George Soros and three other men to stand trial for insider trading linked to a failed takeover bid for the French bank Societe Generale, judicial sources said on Saturday.
A 10-year investigation concluded that the four earned several tens of millions of francs in 1988 speculating on Societe Generale stocks before the takeover bid became public knowledge, they said. The bank had been privatised in 1987.
The trial is to take place next year. Seven other people were also probed but no charges were brought against them.
Apart from Soros, the legendary Hungarian-born fund manager turned philanthropist, the magistrate brought charges against former Finance Ministry senior official Jean-Charles Naouri, banker Jean-Pierre Peyraud and Lebanese businessman Samir Traboulsi, the sources said.
The corporate raider in the case, Georges Pebereau, was amnestied in 1995.
The judicial inquiry was launched in May 1990 at the request of the COB bourse watchdog committee. Over the years the case was handed from one investigating magistrate to another because of the time it took to obtain information from other countries involved, the sources said.
Part of the case is still unclear because Switzerland failed to respond fully to judicial requests for information about large financial transfers undertaken during the takeover bid and apparently linked to it, they said.
