Rogue trader Kerviel faces prison, $6.7B debt French ex-trader Jerome Kerviel was convicted on all counts Tuesday in history's biggest rogue trading scandal, sentenced to at least three years in prison and ordered to pay his former employer damages of 4.9 billion euros ($6.7 billion) -- a sum so staggering it drew gasps in the Paris courtroom. It's the equivalent of 20 Airbus A380 superjumbo jets, or the entire gross domestic product of the west African nation of Benin. The court rejected defense arguments that the 33-year-old trader was a scapegoat for a financial system gone haywire with greed and the pursuit of profit at any cost. It was a huge victory for Kerviel's former employer Societe Generale SA, France's second-biggest bank. Kerviel was found guilty on charges of forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized computer use for covering up bets worth nearly 50 billion euros between late 2007 and early 2008. He was also banned for life from the financial industry.
Apple fights jury's order to pay $625 million Apple Inc. is challenging a federal jury's order that it pay $625.5 million in damages for violating a small technology company's patents. Last Friday, the jury in Tyler, Texas, found that Apple infringed on three patents held by Mirror Worlds, a company founded by Yale University computer science professor David Gelernter. The patents cover characteristic features on Apple's Macintosh computers, iPods and iPhones such as Cover Flow, which lets users flip through album covers and other content as if through a stack of cards; Time Machine, which performs automatic backups; and Spotlight, which is software for searching computer hard drives.
Grupo Televisa cuts a deal with Univision After years of acrimony, the hemisphere's two largest Spanish-language media companies have decided they need each other after all. On Tuesday, Grupo Televisa of Mexico City said that it had provided Univision $1.2 billion in exchange for a 5 percent stake and notes that eventually could convert into an ownership interest of as much as 40 percent in the New York-based Latino media giant. Televisa also agreed to provide its highly popular telenovelas to Univision exclusively at least through 2020 -- and perhaps beyond 2025.
Neiman Marcus catalog covers waterfront Dallas-based luxury retailer Neiman Marcus unveiled its annual Christmas Book on Tuesday with gifts including a $15,000 edible gingerbread playhouse and a $125,000 private party organized by celebrity event planner Colin Cowie. Neiman Marcus is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its "his and hers" gifts like a $250,000 houseboat for two. Among other items in the Christmas Book's 84th edition: A $4,500 adult-size tricycle for three with seat and canopy fabrics by Tory Burch and a $1.5 million glass creation from artist Dale Chihuly for the bottom of a swimming pool. About half the catalog has items selling for less than $250. Lower-priced offerings include tweezers adorned with crystals for $100 or a scented candle for $95.
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