JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is on the verge of concluding a $2 billion settlement with federal authorities related to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, says a report from the New York Times citing sources with the knowledge of the case.
JP Morgan accused of neglecting
In its report, the journal noted that the civil and criminal charges of the bank would also include a deferred prosecution agreement suspending the indictment provided the bank acknowledges the facts of the government’s case and changed its behavior.
As per the deal, the bank will have to pay more than $1 billion to the prosecutors in Manhattan, and the balance amount to the Office of the Comptroller of the currency and a unit of Treasury Department that led an investigation into the banks security against the money laundering. Further, the report notes that the government will pay some amount to the sufferers of Madoff scheme.
Back in 2009, an accusation was made against Madoff for cheating thousands of investors for which he was sentenced to prison for 150 years. The allegation levelled against the JP Morgan was that it deliberately not pay much heed to the warnings that Madoff’s business was fraud; to get more fees and commissions for the service they provided.
One more settlement
Joseph Evangelisti, a JPMorgan spokesman turned down to comment on the report by the New York Times when Reuters approached. The NY times also reported that, including the Madoff settlement, the bank paid around $20 billion to settle down the government probes over the past 12 months.
According to a government official, who gave a statement to the Reuters last month, said that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General was looking into the prospects whether the bank interfered with the OCC’s attempts to investigate the bank’s relationship with Madoff.
With the settlement of Madoff case, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) will come out of another investment related brawl that haunted it for more than two decades. Recently, the bank settled another issues by paying a record of $13 billion to the Justice Department and other two government authorities related to sale of troubled mortgage securities.
