Most Indebted Man
Ever heard of Jérôme Kerviel? He is the world’s indebted man: he owes, hold your breath, $6.3 billion. Nope, not a typo: that is indeed billion with a “b”. Wonder how someone can run up so much debt? Well, the guy was a trader for the French bank, Société Générale. Through a series of frauds, including hacked trading accounts, he bet way more of the bank’s money than they had ever authorized. And when his bets went wrong, the bank lost $6.3 billion. And so the judge ruled that, after completing his 3 year jail term, Kerviel has to pay $6.3 billion to the bank as fines. What I found interesting was that the fine is so ridiculously unpayable that it effectively might as well have never been imposed. So why then did the judge impose it? Is the law really an ass? Not so, says Frank Partnoy, a former investment banker and current law professor. He explained the fine has two intents. First: “They'll likely reach some kind of agreement where a significant percentage of any money...