From: criminals@Kennedycompaound.com   
      
   "Another Guilty DUI Kennedy Criminal"  wrote   
   in message news:44916815$0$23772$a82e2bb9@reader.athenanews.com...   
   > Wednesday, June 14, 2006 11:25 p.m. EDT   
   > French Court Uphold Soros Conviction   
   >   
   >   
   > The highest court in France on Wednesday rejected a bid by George Soros,   
   > the billionaire investor, to overturn a conviction for insider trading in   
   > a case dating back nearly 20 years, leaving the first blemish on his   
   > five-decade investing career.   
   >   
   > The panel, the Cour de Cassation, upheld the conviction of Soros, 75, an   
   > American citizen, for buying and selling Société Générale shares in 1988   
   > after receiving information about a planned corporate raid on the bank.   
   >   
   > Ron Soffer, his lawyer, said Soros planned to take the case to the   
   > European Court of Human Rights, saying that the length of the proceedings   
   > had prevented his client from having a fair trial.   
   >   
   > "The investigation started in 1989," he said. "The appeals trial occurred   
   > in 2004. How can you call witnesses and ask them about what happened in   
   > 1988?" The French stock market regulatory authority investigated the   
   > matter separately and concluded that Soros had not violated the law or any   
   > ethical rules, Soffer said.   
   >   
   > The French authorities have not yet determined what fine Soros will pay.   
   >   
   > In a March 2005 ruling, a French appeals court confirmed a fine of ?2.2   
   > million, or $2.8 billion, set by a lower court for the illegal purchase of   
   > 95,000 shares in Société Générale. The Cour de Cassation ruled that the   
   > fine would be adjusted to reflect Soros' profits, and it ordered the case   
   > returned to the appeals court to clarify the amount.   
   >   
   > Soros, a Hungarian-born businessman, has acknowledged that he was told   
   > about a Paris financier's plans to take over Société Générale in late 1988   
   > and began independently acquiring shares in the bank just days later.   
   >   
   > But he denied that knowledge of the raid had amounted to insider   
   > information or influenced his transactions, which he said were part of a   
   > broader, documented strategy of investing in newly privatized French   
   > companies. Soros' lawyer said he had cooperated in the case from the   
   > beginning.   
   >   
   > A spokesman for Soros, Michael Vachon, called the decision "an absurd   
   > miscarriage of justice" and said Soros was confident he would be cleared   
   > by the European court.   
   >   
   > "As he has from the beginning, George Soros maintains that he engaged in   
   > no illegal or unethical conduct," Vachon said in a statement.   
   >   
   > Soros, who emigrated to the United States in 1956 and set up Soros Fund   
   > Management 17 years later, has billions of dollars under management in his   
   > Quantum Fund.   
   >   
   > He remains the only person convicted in the Société Générale affair. Two   
   > others, Samir Traboulsi and Jean- Charles Naouri, were acquitted.   
   >   
   > At an appeals hearing in 2005, Soros told the court his insider trading   
   > conviction had been a "gift to my enemies" in the United States and   
   > elsewhere. "My reputation is at stake," he said.   
   >   
   > Soros has often drawn criticism for speculating heavily on the collapse of   
   > fragile currencies. In 2004 he also angered many conservatives in the   
   > United States by pumping millions of dollars into election campaigns to   
   > try to unseat President George W. Bush.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > © 2006 Associated Press.   
   >   
   >   
      
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