Dallas, Texas 08/13/2013 (Financialstrend) – American authorities examining the $6.2 billion London Whale trading losses at JPMorgan Chase & Co. are making arrests, the newest twist in a case, which produced a scandal for the major American bank. The sources said that the main aim of the investigation is Javier Martin-Artajo. They did not want to be recognized since the investigation is still ongoing. Martin-Artajo, who worked as the direct supervisor in London of Bruno Iksil, and the trader who was known for the “London Whale” situation, are both being targeted.
According to one of the sources, The United States is also looking forward at Iksil’s junior trader, Julien Grout. Grout, who stayed on at JPMorgan after Iksil, Martin-Artajo and another worker, is the most junior person under investigation by authorities were fired from the bank. The timing of the potential arrests was not understandable. Martin-Artajo’s lawyer, Lista Cannon, and Iksil’s attorney, Jonathan Barr, did not act in response to requests for statement, nor did Grout’s legal representative in Paris. A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase refused to comment. Reuters noted that Iksil is working together with the government and will not face any charges on Thursday. The sources said that his support was essential to the arrests.
JPMorgan Chase & CO closed on Monday with a price of $54.09 per share, which was observed to be a loss of 0.79% over its previous close. Through the trading session, the stock had set intraday low at $53.68 and intraday high at $54.32 per share. In the past 52 weeks, the company had touched bottoms at $36.40 and peaks at $56.93 per share. There are presently 3.77 billion outstanding shares in the market with 74% institutional holding and $203.65 billion market cap. On Monday, the stock had a trading volume of 15.13 million shares and average level of trading at 17.47 million shares per day.
