The US today charged a pair of former JPMorgan Chase traders with fraud in connection with the 2012 USD 6.2 billion "London whale" trading losses.
Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout, alleging the two men kept false records on the trades, committed wire fraud and submitted false US securities filings.
The two men are charged with falsifying documents "in order to conceal hundreds of millions of dollars in losses" in the bank's chief investment office as the losses were mounting, according to a court filing.
JPMorgan misstated its quarterly financial results "based in part on false and fraudulent information" provided by Martin-Artajo and Grout, the indictments said.
The indictments are the first in the wake of the London whale debacle, which led to senior bank resignations, slashed pay for JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and a plethora of government probes.
JPMorgan is in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve civil charges stemming from the case. The agency is pressing for an admission of wrongdoing in the case, according to recent reports.
The London whale is one of several regulatory headaches still facing JPMorgan. The bank also faces probes on its sale of mortgage-backed securities, among other issues.
