JPMorgan will pay $ 60 million to settle the precious metal counterfeiting lawsuit

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE 🙂 has agreed to pay $ 60 million to resolve investor group disputes, which the U.S. bank has accused investors of deliberately manipulating the future and opportunity prices of precious metals.

The deal, unveiled on Friday, stemmed from U.S. government investigations into a form of illegal trading of precious metals and U.S. Treasury markets, known as spoofing.

JPMorgan did not approve the agreement between March 2008 and August 2016 to agree on a future deal for precious metals and options traders and requires the approval of a federal judge in Manhattan.

Investors’ lawyers called the deal “fundamentally fair,” citing the risks of continuing litigation among other reasons.

The payment would recover about 7% of the $ 915 million in damages for the entire class, lawyers added.

JPMorgan declined to comment.

Spoofing is the place where traders place orders that they want to cancel in order to move prices in order to benefit their market positions.

In September 2020, JPMorgan entered a delayed lawsuit and agreed to pay $ 920 million, including a $ 436 million fine, to settle investigations by the U.S. government into precious metals and counterfeiting.

The New York-based bank secured a $ 15.7 million settlement with investors in September for Treasury fraud.

Lawyers for precious metal investors expect to seek a third or $ 20 million of their settlement to cover legal fees.