London Whale to avoid charges as ex-boss vows to clear name
THE FORMER boss of the trader who lost JP Morgan more than $6bn (£3.9bn) yesterday said he is co-operating with the authorities and will clear his name.
Ex-trader Bruno Iksil, the so-called London Whale, built up large derivatives positions which lost the bank money.
He is believed to be giving evidence to the US law enforcement agencies and is likely to avoid charges.
But an arrest warrant is thought to have been issued for his former boss Javier Martin-Artajo, as the authorities think he may have tried to hide the scale of the problem from executives at the bank.
“Mr. Martin-Artajo is currently on a long planned vacation and will be returning to the UK as scheduled. Mr. Martin-Artajo has co-operated with every internal and external inquiry which was required of him in the UK,” said his lawyers in a statement, adding regulators have given him no reason not to be on holiday.
“Mr. Martin-Artajo is confident that when a complete and fair reconstruction of these complex events is completed, he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.”
The US Department of Justice declined to comment on the ongoing investigations.