ABSTRACT
In June 2001, the financial press reported a scandal that was causing a stir at Neptune Bank. The head of the equity derivatives trading room and his deputy had just been paid bonuses of 10 million euros and 7 million euros each for the year 2000. The sums were disclosed by a Confédération Générale du Travail trade unionist and threw the bank into turmoil right up to the highest echelons. How had it been possible for such vast sums to be paid? The two beneficiaries declined to comment, but accounts given by several employees – in particular the head of equity derivatives’ previous line manager, his rival in fixed income and foreign exchange and his former head of back office – allowed me to make a fairly accurate reconstruction of the case.1
