J.P. Morgan Chase Thursday disclosed that US and foreign regulators have sought documents on its foreign exchange trading business, amid an ongoing worldwide forex manipulation probe. The disclosure came as the embattled US banking giant, which has paid out more than $20 billion over the past two years to settle various accusations of misbehaviour, was hit with new charges over the Madoff Ponzi fund case.
The largest US bank by assets said in a securities filing that the investigations related to its foreign exchange operations "are in the early stages and the firm is co-operating with the relevant authorities." Authorities in the United States, Britain, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore have opened probes into whether a number of large banks manipulated foreign exchange trading.
Meanwhile a lawsuit was filed in New York Wednesday by two pension funds against J.P. Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and other board members and executives over the Madoff case. According to reports on the case, Bernard Madoff, the jailed former Wall Street czar behind the collapse of the $65 billion investment fund, told lawyers for the plaintiffs that top executives of J.P. Morgan knew his operation was fraudulent.