Top Newsmakers of 2008

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We've already discussed some of the biggest news and breaches of 2008. But what about some of the people who made the news?

Following is a look back at some of 2008's major newsmakers - and where they are today.

Societe Generale's Jerome Kerviel

Portrayed as both a mediocre back office flunky and a "genius" wiz kid investment banker, Societe Generale's Jerome Kerviel showed us what will happen when the right controls aren't in place at a large trading organization. Societe Generale was the second largest bank in France at the time Kerviel's fraudulent trading was uncovered.

When the story of Societe Generale's trading loss of $7 billion broke in late January, Kerviel was compared to another rogue trader, Nick Leeson, who brought about the end of British bank Barings in 1995. The bank says it was the victim of a complex deception on the part of Kerviel, but subsequently several of Kerviel's superiors at the firm resigned. Kerviel accepted an IT consultant position with a French outsourcing company after his release from custody.

Eliot Spitzer - "Client Number 9"

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer had the world seemingly at his fingertips before his ignominious and quick departure from the public eye earlier this year. Once called the "Sheriff of Wall Street," Spitzer had earlier in his career wielded a strong enforcement arm against investment bankers and traders who stepped outside of the dotted lines of acceptable behavior.

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But Spitzer abruptly resigned as Governor on March 17 after a sex scandal erupted in an investigation of suspicious transactions. His predilection for extramarital liaisons with high-priced call girls would not have been discovered had his banks not filed Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on his money transactions, including his request to remove his name from wire transactions that he sent to QAT International, which was an offshore shell company that operated as a front for the Emperor's Club, an "entertainment agency" that arranged the illicit liaisons for clients with call girls. Disgraced Spitzer now is writing a public policy column for Slate.com.

Bernard Madoff, $50 Billion Ponzi Scammer

The final chapter of this Wall Street manager has not been written, but in early December Bernard Madoff, former chairman of the Nasdaq Market and head of a respected New York City investment firm, was charged with what may end up being the largest Ponzi scheme ever. Madoff is accused of taking $50 billion of his investors' money in an intricately woven hedge fund scam.

He now awaits trial and is being held under house arrest in his $7 million Manhattan apartment.

Countrywide Insider Rene Rebollo

The image of the hard-working employee who comes in even on the weekends was altered when Rene Rebollo, an employee at Countrywide Home Loans, was arrested and charged in August with stealing personal information of an estimated 2 million mortgage applicants. Rebollo has pled not guilty to the charges and is set to stand trial in January for the theft that allegedly netted him less than $70,000. This works out to about 2.5 cents per customer record that included Social Security numbers. The accomplice he is said to have sold some of the records to, Wahid Siddiqi of Thousand Oaks, CA, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud on December 9. Siddiqi could face up to 150 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 9.

FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair