JPMorgan to pay over $2 billion in Madoff fraud

1/7/2014

NEW YORK — Officials say JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay $1.7 billion to settle criminal charges and a $350 million civil penalty for missing obvious warning signs of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.

The criminal settlement and the separate Treasury Department penalty were announced today.

Federal prosecutors in New York say the $1.7 billion represents the largest forfeiture ever by a U.S. bank.

The Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says its penalty was imposed because JPMorgan had “critical and widespread deficiencies” in its programs to prevent money laundering and other suspicious activity.

The bank says it doesn’t believe employees knowingly assisted Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. It also says it has taken steps to do better in the future.