Monday, October 10, 2011

George Soros Faces Legal Setback

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Billionaire George Soros, a name synonymous with conspiracy and globalism, has been set back legally in regards to clearing his name over a criminal conviction concerning insider trading from nine years ago. The European Court of Human Rights refused to overturn the conviction, despite his appeal and argument that the French law on insider trading at the time was too ambiguous to find him guilty.

Soros plans to appeal this decision as well.

The conviction is based on a 1988 investment Soros made in French bank Societe Generale. A French court found that Soros sold his shares for $2.9 million in profits after receiving insider knowledge about a plan hatched by a group of wealthy French businessman known as the “golden granddads” to force a takeover of the bank.
The takeover failed but resulted in a higher share price for Societe Generale. French prosecutors launched an investigation in 1990 that ultimately led to Soros’s conviction 12 years later and a $2.9 million fine that was reduced on appeal.
Soros’s legal team has argued that even France’s former market regulator found the country’s insider trading laws too vague.

The courts disagree, stating that though the French law wasn’t precise, Soros was a sophisticated investor and "could not have been unaware that his decision to invest in shares in [Societe Generale] entailed the risk that he might be committing the offense of insider trading."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Soros Loses Bid to Overturn Insider Trading Conviction - Fox News

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