Former JPMorgan exec says expects to be cleared in 'Whale' probe

REUTERS - Lawyers for Javier Martin-Artajo, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co employee who is expected to face U.S. criminal charges for his role in a trading scandal that cost the bank $6.2 billion, said on Tuesday he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing and has cooperated with regulators.

"Mr. Martin-Artajo has co-operated with every internal and external inquiry which was required of him in the UK," said a statement released by lawyers at Norton Rose Fulbright in London.

Martin-Artajo is expected to face criminal charges for trying to inflate the value of trading positions held on his group's books. The mismarking allegedly took place as the team tried to hide mounting losses in an illiquid derivatives market, where they had made outsized bets.

Martin-Artajo worked for JPMorgan's chief investment office in London. After the trading losses became public, he was fired from the bank

Lista Cannon in London and Richard Smith in Washington are representing Martin-Artajo in the matter. Neither responded directly to Reuters' requests for comment.

The statement followed reports that Martin-Artajo could face arrest in London on the U.S. charges. The events surrounding the trading losses are also being probed by UK authorities.

"Mr. Martin-Artajo is confident that when a complete and fair reconstruction of these complex events is completed, he will be cleared of any wrongdoing," the statement said, adding Martin-Artajo was away on a "long-planned vacation."

Martin-Artajo supervised Bruno Iksil, the JPMorgan trader known as "the London Whale" for his outsized trades in the company's chief investment office. Iksil is cooperating with government investigators and will not face criminal charges, Reuters has reported. (Reporting by David Henry and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)