George Soros last week lost his appeal in Paris against his conviction for insider dealing. He was ordered to repay €2.2 million ($2.85 mill...

George Soros last week lost his appeal in Paris against his conviction for insider dealing. He was ordered to repay €2.2 million ($2.85 million) in illegal profits. The transaction in question was a share purchase made by Soros' Quantum Fund following an approach in September 1988 by financier Georges Pebereau who was putting together a consortium to build a stake in Societe Generale, the French bank. Soros refused to take part in the bid but soon after purchased $50 million worth of SG shares and in three other recently privatised French organisations. Although the Pebereau consortium built up a 9 per cent stake in the bank, the takeover bid collapsed against the background of a high SG share price and the refusal of the bank's board to cooperate. According to reports, the Quantum Fund sold its stake in November of that year. The prosecution in the original case argued that the fund should not have purchased the shares having rejected Mr Pebereau's approach, a viewpoint supported by original trial judge Anne Marie Foncelle in 2002. In the appeal Mr Soros' legal team argued that the information that Pebereau was seeking other investors was well known in French financial circles, and the fact that was a takeover target was the subject of several media reports at the time. A spokesman for Mr Soros said, "Mr Soros maintains his innocence. He will appeal this case. He is confident that he will ultimately be vindicated in this matter and that justice will be served." He can now either appeal the verdict before the French Supreme Court, the Court de Cassation, or to the European Court of Justice.