by Pam Martens and Russ Martens at Wall Street on Parade
Last Friday, ahead of a three-day weekend when bad news could be expected to evaporate into the ether by the next news cycle, JPMorgan Chase dropped a bombshell in its 10-K (annual report) filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank, which has admitted to an unprecedented five criminal felony counts since 2014, said its “trading venues” were under investigation by three unnamed regulatory bodies.
This is a very serious matter for this particular bank because three of its prior felony counts involved rigging markets. The bank admitted to rigging foreign exchange markets in 2015 and to rigging, for more than eight years, the precious metals and U.S. Treasury markets in an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2020.
Two of the precious metals traders involved in the 2020 case, Gregg Smith and Michael Nowak, are sitting in federal prison today in Otisville, New York. Smith, of Scarsdale, New York, was sentenced to two years in prison and is scheduled for release on June 13, 2025. Nowak, of Montclair, New Jersey, was sentenced to one year and one day. Nowak is scheduled for release on July 30 of this year. Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, whose tenure has seen an unprecedented crime wave at the bank, received a $50 million bonus. (See our report: After JPMorgan Chase Admits to Its 4th and 5th Felony Charge, Its Board Gives a $50 Million Bonus to Its CEO, Jamie Dimon.)
In the 2020 criminal case, the bank was put on probation under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement for three years, starting with the date the “Information” (formal charging document) was filed. That document was filed on the court docket in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on September 29, 2020, meaning it should have expired on September 29, 2023. But in JPMorgan’s Friday 10-K filing for the period ending December 31, 2023, the bank states as follows:…
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