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Who is the poorest person in the world? Meet Jerome Kerviel

Jerome Kerviel, is the world's poorest person right now (File Photo)

The hunt for wealth is an endless struggle that involves both rich and poor individuals alike. Several publications that maintain a close eye on net worths often sideline the poverty-stricken. Even so, it is hilarious to think of one who qualifies as the poorest, when there are so many of them out there. So, who is the poorest person in the world?

Jerome Kerviel is the poorest person in the world right now. The story of a wealthy man turned poor is now the talk of the town with many holding that he is presently the poorest man on earth.

What happened to Jerome Kerviel is highly surprising and daunting at the same time. Many people cannot stop imagining how a billionaire could have lost their wealth overnight. While we are at that, most people maintain he is now suffering the pain he brought to himself.

How Jerome Kerviel became the “poorest person in the world”

How Jerome Kerviel became the “poorest person in the world” Jerome Kerviel may not have thoroughly thought that a single high-risk business practice would see his wealth rolling down the hill. His appetite for amassing a vast security position would later leave him counting on severe losses.

Experts have likened his fatal risk with about 1.5 times the market capitalization of a global bank, or five times the economic output of Cambodia. It could be less surprising if no one knew about the risk grounds that Jerome was treading.

the poorest person in the world

Jerome had been working with a leading banking firm as a junior level derivatives trader, earning about US$66, 000 every year. His hard work at Societe Generale (SocGen) saw him accumulate a whopping US$73 billion stock index futures position in the wake of 2008.

His decisions, later on, cost SocGen a tune of US$7.2 billion, roughly six times more of what Nick Leeson lost at Barings. Derivatives are lucrative investments drawing value from real asset including oil price, market index, and stock.

Investing in the Eurostoxx pan-European stock index futures contracts (30 billion Euros), Germany’s DAX futures (18 billion euros), and London’s FTSE futures (2 billion euros) was never a good idea. He made this move hoping that the markets would shoot in the following months, and he would have profited through arbitrage.

His blind hope sunk amid market falls that was experienced after that. It later emerged that Jerome suffered the loss deliberately in an attempt to mask his illegal dealings at the company. According to a report released by SocGen, Jerome had been involved in a series of trade frauds.

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The report uncovered no other charge against him. These revelations indicated that he had indeed undermined the company’s trading policies. As a result, the company fired him soon after.

A few years back, Jerome handed himself to the authorities and started serving a jail sentence for his breach of trust at Societe Generale. The trader has more debt than the most unfortunate person you have ever met. Little did Jerome know that his involvement in unauthorized trades would cost his lifelong savings and throw him into jail after that.

His outcry to receive a presidential pardon fell on the deaf ears even as Michael Sapin, The Minister of Finance in the French government, insisted on his incarceration. “The crook is caught, the crook is convicted, the crook should of course serve his sentence.”

Who is the poorest person in the world?

Who is the poorest man alive? Jerome has gone down in history as a man behind the world’s most massive trading fraud. Behind his costly suits, Jerome is now the world’s poorest man considering he owes SocGen more than $6.3 billion.

The poorest man in the world net worth Becoming the most indebted man on earth makes Jerome miserable than homeless persons. It is for the fact that Jerome Kerviel net worth is now strikingly low compared to a few years ago when he was a chief trader at SocGen.

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A discussion into who is the poorest person in the world unveils a worst-case scenario of a rich man turned poor contrary to what most people would expect. If net worth is something to go by, then Jerome Kerviel is the poorest man alive in the 21st century, and he may hold this record for several more years.

Source: Tuko.co.ke

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