February 6, 2008

U.S. has not notified SocGen director about probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have not notified Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) director Robert Day that they are investigating the stock sales he made before the French bank announced billions of dollars in losses by a single trader, Day's spokesman said on Tuesday.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal newspaper, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing stock sales by Day and by two foundations associated with him.

The Department of Justice is also looking into Day's trading activity, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Monday.

"We doubt this is coming from either the SEC or DOJ since both have prohibitions against such leaks," said Day's spokesman, Josh Pekarsky. "In any case, we have not been notified by the SEC or the DOJ of any investigation into Mr. Day."

Day and the foundations sold about $140 million of the bank's stock about two weeks before Societe Generale notified its board about the $7.3 billion in trading losses, the Journal said.

The bank publicly revealed on January 24 the losses it blamed on a single rogue trader, Jerome Kerviel.

Societe Generale has already said that Day's sales were during a window of time when such trades were permitted under the bank's trading policies for directors.

The bank has also said it was contacted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York on January 25 about the trading losses announced the day before.

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