Rogue trader: the media's most wanted

Trader Jerome Kerviel in shown a photo on an electoral leaflet for the municipal elections in Pont l'Abbe, western France. PHOTO: AP

"It's his ear," a photographer shouted gleefully, reviewing pictures he snapped of a police-escorted van thought to be carrying the alleged rogue trader in the scandal shaking Societe Generale.

If it was Jerome Kerviel's ear, that is pretty much the best glimpse anyone has gotten of the elusive 31-year-old trader, who has given the slip to media from around the world pursuing the story of history's biggest trading misadventure.

Kerviel shot from anonymity to international celebrity last week when Societe Generale said he was behind a "massive fraud" that had cost it 4.82 billion euros (US$7.09 billion).

Although his photograph -- a grainy mug shot culled from the bank's Web site -- made the front page of papers around the world, Kerviel has managed to remain invisible. He has not spoken a word to the press and has kept journalists guessing about his whereabouts. No fresh photos of Kerviel have been published since the scandal broke.

After police held him for nearly 48 hours, judges on Monday filed preliminary charges against Kerviel -- and then ordered him released while the probe continues. Although hundreds of reporters were staking out the offices he still managed to slip away unnoticed.

"It's like the Wild West, and Kerviel is an outlaw with `Wanted' signs all over the place," said French paparazzo Pascal Rostain, one of a small army of photographers searching for Kerviel. "It's enormous, every paper in the world is after his photo."

Photo agencies and publications that use paparazzi photos won't speculate about what a shot of Kerviel would be worth -- for fear of driving prices up. A staffer at one agency, who declined to be identified, said only that an image of Kerviel would fetch "lots and lots of money."

Also See: Societe General employees file lawsuit