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PARIS -- A French court on Friday convicted U.S. billionaire investor George Soros of insider trading, fining him ¤2.2 million ($2.3 million).
The court's fine matches the amount the Hungarian-born magnate was accused of having made from buying stocks at French bank Societe Generale SA with insider knowledge 14 years ago.
Mr. Soros, 72 years old, the president of Soros Fund Management, denies having had privileged information.
He wasn't in court Friday. In court testimony in November, Mr. Soros said: "I have been in business all my life, and I think I know what is insider trading and what isn't."
Societe Generale was privatized in 1987. A year later, its stock price went up during an unsuccessful takeover bid. Mr. Soros was accused of having obtained and traded on insider information before the abortive corporate raid pushed up the stock price.
Paris magistrates said Mr. Soros illegally bought shares of Societe Generale in 1988 after he was asked to join a group trying to take control of the bank. Though Mr. Soros didn't join that group, he acknowledges buying Societe Generale shares for his flagship Quantum Fund, one of the world's first hedge funds.
Mr. Soros's attorneys say the information he had about Societe Generale didn't qualify as inside information and that French law at the time defined insider trading more narrowly than it does today.
The fine was in line with the request by prosecutors.
Mr. Soros was tried with two other men, Jean-Charles Naouri, former top aide to then-French Finance Minister Pierre Beregovoy, and Lebanese businessman Samir Traboulsi.
The court cleared Messrs. Naouri and Traboulsi of any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors had sought fines of ¤290,000 for Mr. Naouri and ¤1.98 million for Mr. Traboulsi.
Mr. Soros has said he was interested in Societe Generale based on information he claims was widely known: France's government at the time favored takeovers to change the leadership at recently privatized companies.
Mr. Soros said he was buying stock in many companies and had no reason not to include Societe Generale. Afterward, he sold the stock, saying he felt the takeover attempt was politically motivated and wasn't going to benefit the company.
Reportedly the first American to earn a billion dollars in a single year, Mr. Sorors was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1930. He emigrated to the U.S in 1956 and became a citizen five years later. He made his fortune managing investment funds.
Forbes magazine ranked him this year as the 37th richest person in the world, with an estimated $6.9 billion fortune.
Prosecutors said the case dragged on because Swiss authorities took years to respond to requests for information. Defense lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the case should be thrown out because it took so long to bring to court.
Copyright © 2002 Associated Press
Updated December 20, 2002 9:10 a.m. EST