A law firm said on Wednesday it filed suit against Societe Generale, alleging the French bank misled investors about its exposure in the subprime mortgage markets and failed to act on information it had about trades by Jerome Kerviel.
The complaint, filed in federal court in New York, charges that SocGen made false and misleading statements and concealed material adverse information regarding SocGen's exposure to subprime loans, collateralized debt obligations and internal controls, the law firm Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll said.
The lawsuit seeks to represent all purchasers of SocGen American Depository Receipts and all U.S. purchasers of the bank's shares on overseas exchanges between Aug. 1, 2005 and Jan. 23, 2008, the firm said.
In January, SocGen, France's second-biggest listed bank, unveiled 4.9 billion euros ($7.53 billion) of losses which it blamed on rogue deals carried out by Kerviel, a 31-year-old junior trader at the bank.