CEP Magazine (December 2020)

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission announced a deferred prosecution agreement with JPMorgan Chase & Co., including a fine of $920 million, for manipulating markets and defrauding consumers.^[1]

JPMorgan traders engaged in “spoofing,” in which a financial firm will flood the market with trade it doesn’t intend to execute in order to affect the price of a particular commodity. In this case, traders focused on the metals industry. This case has been resolved, but several others are still in litigation.

‘The conduct of the individuals referenced in today’s resolutions is unacceptable and they are no longer with the firm,’ Daniel Pinto, co-president of JPMorgan, said in the statement. ‘We appreciate that the considerable resources we’ve dedicated to internal controls was recognized by the DOJ, including enhancements to compliance policies, surveillance systems and training programs.’

1 Hugh Son, “JPMorgan Chase to pay record $920 million to resolve U.S. investigations into trading practices,” CNBC, September 29 2020, https://cnb.cx/3j2Vo8X.

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