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Has that ever happened? Seems like the stars would have to align for that kind of white collar crime to happen (financial employee who is also a highly experien

by umvi 7y ago

Has that ever happened? Seems like the stars would have to align for that kind of white collar crime to happen (financial employee who is also a highly experienced programmer who is also highly unethical)

bl0b 7y ago
I mean, 2/3 of those come together par for the course, right?
alexis2b 7y ago
A famous example is the (in)famous trader Jérôme Kerviel who was deemed responsible for a 4.9 billions euro loss at Société Générale. Having worked in Middle Office before being promoted to the Front, he had a really good knowledge of how operations and risk management worked in the bank (plus some still working write accesses to specific systems) which allowed him to mask his very large positions with fake opposite trades that he was putting in every day before the nightly risk snapshot and cancelling before they could be confirmed. The guy basically did not take any holidays in two years - otherwise his large positions would have appeared on Risk radar pretty quickly... If you are into those stories and want much more details than my poor summary I really recommend reading the SocGen post-mortem investigation. Disclaimer: I worked at Société Générale during the Kerviel era - also there is a lot of controversy in France about how much the bank knew and let things happen (Kerviel was making a lot of profits - until he wasn’t) and if that was used to cover subprime related loss - this post does not represent an opinion on this case!
asdff 7y ago
I feel like the stars would have to align for that kind of crime to even be found. I think it's a guarantee that it's already happening in a lot of companies. So many companies have the most sloppy book work, and regulatory bodies are stretched too thin to catch everything. If you are a sociopath who knows programming (more and more people in finance do every year) and is in finance (two fields with more sociopaths than some, perhaps), then why would you leave money on the table? You are already morally bankrupt and know how you would get caught, and therefore how to not be caught, and know that this money is going to you with zero issue.

by umvi 7y ago

bl0b 7y ago

I mean, 2/3 of those come together par for the course, right?

alexis2b 7y ago

A famous example is the (in)famous trader Jérôme Kerviel who was deemed responsible for a 4.9 billions euro loss at Société Générale. Having worked in Middle Office before being promoted to the Front, he had a really good knowledge of how operations and risk management worked in the bank (plus some still working write accesses to specific systems) which allowed him to mask his very large positions with fake opposite trades that he was putting in every day before the nightly risk snapshot and cancelling before they could be confirmed. The guy basically did not take any holidays in two years - otherwise his large positions would have appeared on Risk radar pretty quickly... If you are into those stories and want much more details than my poor summary I really recommend reading the SocGen post-mortem investigation. Disclaimer: I worked at Société Générale during the Kerviel era - also there is a lot of controversy in France about how much the bank knew and let things happen (Kerviel was making a lot of profits - until he wasn’t) and if that was used to cover subprime related loss - this post does not represent an opinion on this case!

asdff 7y ago

I feel like the stars would have to align for that kind of crime to even be found. I think it's a guarantee that it's already happening in a lot of companies. So many companies have the most sloppy book work, and regulatory bodies are stretched too thin to catch everything. If you are a sociopath who knows programming (more and more people in finance do every year) and is in finance (two fields with more sociopaths than some, perhaps), then why would you leave money on the table? You are already morally bankrupt and know how you would get caught, and therefore how to not be caught, and know that this money is going to you with zero issue.