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PARIS, FRANCE - A Paris court on Tuesday ordered the release of rogue trader Jerome Kerviel while investigators probe a multi-billion-dollar scandal at Societe Generale bank, a legal source said.
The 31-year-old junior trader has been in detention since February 8. Societe Generale has blamed trades made by Kerviel for mammoth losses of 4.9 billion euros (7.1 billion dollars) incurred after the bank was forced to unwind more than 50 billion euros of Kerviel?s unauthorised deals.
Prosecutors had sought to keep Kerviel behind bars while investigators complete their probe into the biggest bank trading scam in history.
Kerviel turned himself into police on January 26, two days after the bank revealed the losses, and was charged January 28 with breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers.
While he was initially released after handing in his passport, prosecutors won a court decision last month to have him jailed, arguing that he could have contacts that could undermine the investigation.
If found guilty of breach of trust, Kerviel would face a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 370,000 euros.
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