Paris, France (CNN) -- French prosecutors demanded Thursday that trader Jerome Kerviel serve four years in jail for allegedly betting €50 billion ($61 billion) of his employer's money without its knowledge.
A former employee of French bank Societe Generale, Kerviel went on trial earlier this month on charges including forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized computer use. The banks says the unhedged bets cost it almost $6 billion.
Kerviel faces a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 375,000 euros ($447,500). Societe Generale also plans to ask that Kerviel reimburse it for its losses, which it discovered in January 2008.
Kerviel, who is free on bail, traded European index futures for the bank and strenuously denies the charges. He claims he wasn't the only one flouting the rules and did so with knowledge of his superiors.
"I am convinced the criminal file is full of elements proving that my superiors knew and covered for me. At least I shouldn't be the only one in the dock," he told CNN after the release of his memoirs, "Trapped in a Spiral: Memoirs of a Trader" in which he pleads his innocence.
"During three years, these managers earned colossal amounts of money out of bonuses based on the ever growing results that I was making for the bank," he said.
Societe Generale says that at no time were supervisors aware of Kerviel's allegedly unlawful activities.
