Prosecutors in the U.K. are now getting in on the investigation launched by the U.S. into the so-called London Whale trading losses at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM). Lindsay Fortado of Bloomberg reports that the Serious Fraud Office, which handles enforcement of most white collar crime, is working with the Financial Conduct Authority and their “U.S. counterparts.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are also investigating those trading losses.
Charges unsealed in London Whale case
Prosecutors in the U.S. unsealed charges filed against Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout last week in the case. The two London-based traders have been accused of trying to hide the size of the losses which resulted from big trades made by Bruno Iksil, who is known as the London Whale because of the massive size of his trades. Those losses ended up amounting to more than $6 billion.
U.S. pursues London-based traders
Earlier this month it was revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission wants JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) to admit wrongdoing in the case. However, no official settlement has been reached yet. If the SEC requires the bank to admit to wrongdoing, then it would be the first time this has happened in a case like this. It’s still unclear whether an admission of guilt will be part of the final settlement offered to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM).
Iksil himself won’t face any charges. Caroline Binham of the Financial Times reports that he signed a non-prosecution agreement with U.S. officials in exchange for providing testimony against one of his team members and his supervisor.
U.S. officials expressed hope that both Martin-Artajo and Grout would go to the U.S. to face the charges filed against them. However, lawyers for both of the traders said they are out of the U.K. and did not say when they might return.
