JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $153.6 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of complex mortgage investments just as the housing market was collapsing.
J.P. Morgan Securities failed to tell investors that a hedge fund helped select the investment portfolio and then bet it would fail, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
Among the investors who lost money were autoworkers for General Motors, a Lutheran financial organization and a retirement services company in Topeka, Kan.
The settlement announced Tuesday is one of the most significant legal actions targeting Wall Street’s role in the 2008 financial crisis. It comes a year after Goldman Sachs & Co. paid $550 million to settle similar charges.
Still, the settlement amounts to less than 1 percent of the bank’s 2010 profit of $17.4 billion — or less than what JPMorgan earns in one week.
Associated Press
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