JPM Pays Small Fine For Long-Running Crimes

J.P. Morgan manipulated the municipal bond market for eight years. JPM paid a small fine and will avoid being banded from the markets or from criminal charges. Apparently the rule of criminal law doesn't apply to most-favored bankers like J.P. Morgan.

SEC Charges J. P. Morgan Securities with Fraudulent Bidding Practices Involving Investment of Municipal Bond Proceeds

“JPMS improperly won bids by entering into secret arrangements with bidding agents to get an illegal 'last look' at competitors’ bids,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

The SEC alleges that from 1997 through 2005, JPMS’s fraudulent practices, misrepresentations and omissions undermined the competitive bidding process, affected the prices that municipalities paid for reinvestment products, and deprived certain municipalities of a conclusive presumption that the reinvestment instruments had been purchased at fair market value. JPMS’s fraudulent conduct also jeopardized the tax-exempt status of billions of dollars in municipal securities because the supposed competitive bidding process that establishes the fair market value of the investment was corrupted.