French bank Natixis was fined 7.5 million euros ($9 million) Thursday after it was found guilty by a criminal court of misleading investors during the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis. The lender was accused of underestimating its exposure to subprime loans -- a risky type of credit in the United States that was at the heart of the global financial crisis -- in a statement in November 2007. The court in Paris said the bank "knowingly disseminated misleading information" regarding its subprime exposure, adding that there was "deception at the highest level of management at Natixis" to protect the bank's share price. Natixis said in a statement it would appeal the ruling, adding that it had "always given the public, in all sincerity, the information that it had on its exposures". bt/kd/esp/lth/wai