Mr Cooper Group Inc (COOP)

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GOVERNMENT PROBES INTO JPMORGAN APPEAR AIDED BY INSIDER

Oct 1, 2013, 12:31pm EDT
Staff
New York Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2013/10/01/government-probes-into-jpmorgan-appear.html

JPMorgan Chase is close to an $11 billion settlement to end probes into the practices of its mortgage-backed securities business just before the financial crisis, and a report by the Wall Street Journal indicates that someone inside the bank is cooperating with authorities to provide materials essential to the government’s investigation.

Those materials, which include emails that apparently suggest the bank knowingly sold securities that were of lesser quality than advertised, are a driving force behind prosecutors’ push to have JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) admit wrongdoing, according to the Journal.

Reuters added that while JPMorgan continues to negotiate with authorities, it appears the now-defunct Washington Mutual could be a complicating factor. JPMorgan bought Washington Mutual for about $1.9 billion during the financial crisis, and now it disputes its liability to investors who lost money on Washington Mutual’s products. Should JPMorgan convince authorities to that it doesn’t deserve to take on Washington Mutual’s losses as part of its larger settlement, one consultant told Reuters, it could reduce the total cost by about $3.5 billion.

The episode is uncovering some resentment among Wall Street figures who believe the government’s pursuit of charges against JPMorgan are unfair. The New York Times, however, laid out evidence that JPMorgan was hardly bullied into buying Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, the two institutions responsible for many of the actions at the heart of the government probes, and that JPMorgan even appeared to relish the opportunities presented by collapsing firms.

http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2013/10/01/government-probes-into-jpmorgan-appear.html