JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $920 million for fraudulent transactions of precious metals and US Treasuries by its traders, the Department of Justice said in a statement on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2020) JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $920 million for fraudulent transactions of precious metals and US Treasuries by its traders, the Department of Justice said in a statement on Tuesday.
"JPMorgan entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in connection with a criminal information filed today in the District of Connecticut charging the company with two counts of wire fraud," the statement said. "Under the terms of the DPA, JPMorgan will pay over $920 million in a criminal monetary penalty, criminal disgorgement, and victim compensation."
According to admissions and court documents, between March 2008 and August 2016, numerous traders and sales personnel on JPMorgan's precious metals desk engaged in a scheme to defraud in connection with the purchase and sale of gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. and Commodity Exchange Inc.
In tens of thousands of instances, traders placed orders to buy and sell precious metals futures contracts with the intent to cancel those orders before execution, including in an attempt to profit by deceiving other market participants through injection of false and misleading information concerning the existence of genuine supply and demand for precious metals futures contracts.
In addition, on certain occasions, traders engaged in trading activity that was intended to deliberately trigger or defend barrier options held by JPMorgan and thereby avoid losses.
One trader, John Edmonds of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty on October 9, 2018, to one count of commodities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, commodities fraud, commodities price manipulation and spoofing.
Another trader, Christian Trunz of New York, New York, pleaded guilty on August 20, 2019, to one count of conspiracy to engage in spoofing and one count of spoofing in connection with his precious metals futures contracts trading at JPMorgan and another financial services firm.
The Justice Department also obtained a superseding indictment on November 15, 2019 against three former JPMorgan traders - Gregg Smith, Michael Nowak and Christopher Jordan, and one former salesperson - Jeffrey Ruffo that charged them for their alleged participation in a racketeering conspiracy and other federal crimes in connection with the manipulation of the precious metals futures contracts markets.
JPMorgan is ranked by S&P Global as the largest bank in the United States and seventh largest in the world by total assets, which amount to $2.7 trillion.
From: Barani Krishnan - [email protected]
Subject: Top US Bank JPMorgan Fined $920Mln For Fraudulent Metals, Treasuries Trade - Justice Dept
