The rogue trader that lost one of Europe's biggest banks 4.9 billion euros is suing them for 5.7 billion euros

Advertisement

Jerome Kerviel

Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

Former trader Jerome Kerviel leaves the courthouse in Paris

The case between one of Europe's largest banks and a trader that lost them almost $7 billion dollars just took another bizarre turn.

Advertisement

Litigation has been ongoing for eight years between Jerome Kerviel and his former employer Societe Generale over bad bets that Kerviel made on stock market futures, and now Kerviel is fighting back.

In French court Thursday, Kerviel sued the bank for 5.7 billion euros, according to Gaspard Sebag at Bloomberg.

That is coincidentally more than the 4.9 billion euros that the bank claims Kerviel lost them prior to his dismissal in 2008.

Advertisement

Kerviel has long maintained that the firing was wrongful termination, saying that the manner in which SocGen fired him did not follow French law and that the firm was well aware of his trades as they were happening.

So in order to make a statement, according to French news magazine L'Express, Kerviel decided to sue the firm for the exact amount that was lost on his trades, saying that the number was "ironic." In a following tribunal Thursday, that number was increased to 5.7 billion euros, according to Bloomberg.

Despite losing multiple times in French courts since the original incident, the trial was reset in February after Kerviel changed his accusations from dismissal with gross misconduct to dismissal without cause.

You can read the full Bloomberg story here.

NOW WATCH: There's a remote waterfall hidden in the Grand Canyon that you can hike to