The US authorities may announce charges this week against former London-based JPMorgan Chase employees related to allegations they tried to conceal losses last year, Bloomberg reported quoting an unidentified source.
"The situation remains fluid and it isn’t clear who may be charged," Bloomberg quoted the source as saying.
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Those facing US charges include Javier Martin-Artajo, a former executive who oversaw the trading strategy, and Julien Grout, a trader who worked for him, the New York Times reported.
"Prosecutors also are weighing penalties for the bank, including a fine and a reprimand," the newspaper said in a subsequent report.
The investigation has focused on whether employees at JP Morgan’s chief investment office attempted to inflate the value of trades on the bank’s books by mis-marking them. Federal officials are considering charges related to mis-marking books and falsifying documents, the Bloomberg report claims.
Grout, a French citizen, is in France, which may make it difficult to arrest him if he’s charged because the country has tougher extradition laws than the U.K., a person familiar with the matter said. Martin-Artajo, a Spaniard, lives in London, according to another person familiar with the matter.
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By GlobalDataEdward Little, an attorney for Grout, said his client moved back to France before media reports last week about the potential charges and that he has no intention of fleeing, the New York Times reported.
The bank first disclosed losses at its London office in May 2012 after what CEO Jamie Dimon called "egregious mistakes" in managing credit-derivative positions.
The trades by Bruno Iksil, nicknamed the London Whale because of the size of his holdings, eventually caused more than US$6.2 billion of losses for the company.
Martin-Artajo was Iksil’s supervisor and Grout assisted in valuing his trading book. JPMorgan ousted all three last year and sought to recoup some of their pay.
