Jérôme Kerviel, the alleged multibillion-dollar rogue trader, has claimed he was being made a scapegoat by his superiors at Société Générale (SocGen) who had ‘tolerated’ his risky deals as long as they made money.

Kerviel's lawyers claimed victory yesterday when Kerviel was freed on preliminary charges of abuse of confidence and illegal access to computers, escaping the more serious charge of fraud. ‘He is free and he has been cleared of the charge of fraud, which has been repeatedly emphasised by the Société Générale bank, Christian Charriere-Bournasel, Kerviel's lawyer, said.

Several shareholders have filed complaints with the French financial markets watchdog after it was discovered that a member of SocGen's board had sold shares worth €86m (₤64m) on Jan 9, shortly before the scandal broke.

Kerviel claims SocGen brought the disastrous situation on itself by hastily selling his positions last week when they discovered the scale of his trades. At that time he held positions worth about £37 billion, more than the market value of the bank.

Further reading:

French trader accused of hacking systems

Investigation at SocGen 'to take months'

Read full story in The Daily Telegraph