The federal government on Tuesday announced its much-anticipated JPMorgan Chase settlement, in which the nation’s largest bank agreed to fork over $13 billion in reparations and admit that it peddled fraudulent securities.
As part of the settlement, California’s two largest public employee pension funds will receive nearly $300 million. Billions also will be set aside to help homeowners still struggling from the effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
The announcement came from U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner in Sacramento and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington, D.C.
“It is the federal government’s largest single-company civil settlement ever,” Wagner said at a news conference in his Sacramento office.
Wagner was a key player in the settlement, partially due to a year-old investigation of JPMorgan by four attorneys on his staff. That, plus the office’s aggressive pursuit of rampant mortgage fraud in the Central Valley, led to high-ranking Justice officials allowing Wagner to carry the ball in a high-profile Wall Street investigation.
Sacramento Bee, 11/19/13; see also LA Times; 11/19/13; NY Times Dealbook, 11/19/13.