An arrest warrant has been issued for two former JPMorgan Chase & Co. employees on suspicion that they tried to conceal $6 million losses incurred by the infamous ‘London Whale’ trader.
Prosecutors from the US attorney’s office are believed to be pushing for the arrest of Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout, and it is expected that they will be arrested in London in the coming days for their part in trying to conceal the investment banks’ trading loss last year.
Former trader known as the London Whale, Bruno Iksil built up derivatives positions that ended up losing JP Morgan more than $6bn (£3.9bn).
All three were fired by the bank last year and have had some of their bonuses clawed back. However, Iksil is not likely to be charged over the series of events which led to the scandal due to his cooperation with investigators.
Martin-Artajo oversaw JPMorgan’s trading strategy in London, while Grout recorded the value of the soured investments, according to the New York Times, which said a federal grand jury moved to indict both on criminal fraud charges.
Federal investigators concluded that Martin-Artajo ordered Grout to falsify records and conceal more than $400 million in losses from their superiors at the bank, the newspaper reported. Likely to be extradited to the US under an agreement with British authorities, it is not clear where the two men are located, they are nationals of other European countries, according to The Times.
