JP MORGAN SEEKS SWEEPING SETTLEMENT OF PENDING GOVERNMENT LAWSUITS Jamie Dimon, tired of being chased around by state attorney generals and federal regulators, is pressing to settle all pending national cases in one fell swoop. After paying out $1 billion last week, JP Morgan had made a low ball offer of $3 billion but estimates run as high as $11 billion and the current belief is that they will have to pay out about $7 billion. The suits involve the handling of mortgages, including the sale of mortgage backed securities, commodity trading and the London "whale" trading loss that has brought charges of lax risk management. Although no executives are being charged personally (a lowly trader is charged with falsifying records), the bank will be pressed to make admissions of guilt. In fairness it should be acknowledged that some of the charges were inherited from Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, failing institutions that it acquired during the financial crisis. The stock price actually ticked up a bit as the news hit the wires because current estimates are far lower than the $20 billion figure that had been bandied about earlier in the week.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 21:27:21 +0000
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