JPMorgan cites possible deceit by traders

BY DANIEL WAGNER

AND PALLAVI GOGOI

The Associated Press

JPMorgan Chase said Friday that its traders may have tried to conceal the losses from a soured bet that has embarrassed the bank and cost it almost $6 billion -- far more than its chief executive first suggested.

Chief executive Jamie Dimon told analysts in a conference call after the release of the bank's earnings that an internal investigation had uncovered evidence that led executives to "question the integrity" of the values, or marks, that traders assigned to their trades.

JPMorgan also said it planned to revoke two years' worth of pay from some of the senior managers involved in the bad bet.

"This has shaken our company to the core," Dimon said.

The bank said the loss, which Dimon estimated at $2 billion when he disclosed it in May, had grown to $5.8 billion, and could grow larger than $7 billion if financial markets deteriorate severely.

Dimon said the worst appeared to be behind the bank, and investors seemed to agree: They sent JPMorgan stock up 6 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average up 204 points.

The investigation, which covered more than a million emails and tens of thousands of voice messages, suggested traders were trying to make losses look smaller, the bank said.

The revelation could expose JPMorgan to civil fraud charges. If regulators decide that employee deceptions caused JPMorgan to report inaccurate financial details, they could pursue charges against the employees, the bank or both.

In the earnings data released Friday JPMorgan lowered its reported net income for the first quarter of the year by $459 million. Even after the adjustment, it made $4.9 billion for the quarter. The bank also reported net income for the second quarter, ended June 30, of $5 billion, far higher than the $3.2 billion that Wall Street analysts had expected.

JPMorgan has more than $1 trillion in customer deposits and more than $700 billion in loans.