Kerviel's Facebook Friend Said Arrested In Rogue Trading Probe

When news broke a few weeks back that Societe Generale's $7.1bn rogue trader was one Jerome Kerviel, 10 of his 11 'friends' detailed on the social networking site Facebook quickly deleted their names. The only one who didn't, Manuel Zabraniecki, has now been identified in the media as the latest person to be detained by French police, as investigating judges follow the evidence in the SG rogue trading affair.

Zabraniecki, identified as a cash equities broker who works at SG Securities and who is believed to have executed trades for Kerviel's equities derivatives desk, is said to have been detained after Police raided SocGen's Paris HQ Wednesday, searching his desk and taking away his computer and other documents.

In the meantime, SocGen's shares have been on the rise after yet more rumours that BNP Paribas is likely to take the plunge and launch a takeover bid in May. The Wall Street Journal reports that Merrill Lynch analysts came out recently and said that: 'we find it hard to believe BNP will not try to follow up the once-in-a-lifetime chance to become a leading domestic retail franchise with an optimal distribution platform in Eastern Europe and a best-in-class corporate and investment bank'.

Finally, Reuters reports that Phillip Barkett, a US resident who purchased SocGen ADRs, has sued the bank, CEO Daniel Bouton and Director Robert Day in the US District Court of Manhattan, claiming that the defendants made false and misleading statements and concealed material information about the bank's internal controls and its exposure to subprime lending and CDOs.