JP Morgan Settles “London Whale” Class Action, Led by Pensions, for $150 Million

JP Morgan Chase & Co on Friday settled a 2012 class action securities fraud suit for $150 million.

Several institutional investors were lead plaintiffs in the case, including Sweden’s AP7 fund, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, and pension funds from Oregon and Arkansas.

More from Reuters:

The lawsuit stemmed from oversight by JPMorgan’s Chief Investment Office of a synthetic credit portfolio that caused the $6.2 billion loss and was linked to traders in the bank’s London office including Bruno Iksil, the so-called London Whale.

Shareholders accused JPMorgan of knowingly hiding increased risks at the Chief Investment Office, including on an April 13, 2012, conference call when JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called reports about the synthetic portfolio a “tempest in a teapot.”

The settlement covers anyone who bought JPMorgan stock from April 13 to May 21, 2012, a time when JPMorgan’s share price fell by roughly one-quarter and wiped out more than $40 billion of market value.

[…]

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in a statement on Monday said the deal would help the state’s Ohio Public Employees Retirement System recover its losses and discourage future fraud.

“Misleading investors with wrong or incomplete information is unacceptable and causes real damage,” DeWine said.

JP Morgan has admitted wrongdoing in the case.

Photo by Joe Gratz via Flickr CC License