JPMorgan Mortgage Settlement Could Cost As Little As $9 Billion: Sources

By Aruna Viswanatha and David Henry

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase Co’s preliminary $13 billion mortgage settlement with the U.S. government could end up costing the bank as little as $9 billion after taxes, because the majority of the deal is expected to be tax deductible, two sources said.

The deduction also means the government is getting less than it appears in this deal. Banks can often deduct legal settlements from their taxes, but cannot get tax benefits for penalties for violating laws.

JPMorgan and the U.S. government have been negotiating the tax treatment of the settlement. The outcome could have a dramatic impact on exactly what the deal ends up costing the bank, how it is perceived by the public, and whether it becomes a model for resolving government investigations of mortgage deals at other banks.

(Reporting by David Henry in New York and Aruna Viswanatha in Washington; Editing by Dan Wilchins and Tim Dobbyn)

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  London Whale

  
  

  The bank’s chief investment office gambled on credit derivatives, a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/jpmorgan-chase-q02-earnings-2012_n_1670629.html” target=”_hplink”losing $5.8 billion/a (so far), and its trading desk may have tried to hide the losses from the home office. The bank says it is being sued by shareholders over the losses and has gotten subpoenas and requests for information from “Congress, the OCC, Federal Reserve, DOJ, SEC, CFTC, UK Financial Services Authority, the State of Massachusetts and other government agencies, including in Japan, Singapore and Germany.”

  
  


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  Milan Swap Deal

  
  

  The bank has faced a href=”http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-18/milan-swaps-prosecutor-seeks-ban-on-4-banks-from-government-work.html” target=”_hplink”lawsuits and criminal investigations/a over an interest-rate swap deal it made with the city of Milan, Italy, back in 2005. The bank settled a civil suit, but criminal charges are still pending against the bank and several employees, with hearings in the trial “occurring on a weekly basis since May 2010.”

  
  


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  Enron

  
  

  The bank and some of its executives are still being sued over the bank’s relationship with the failed, fraud-ridden energy giant, more than a decade after its failure.

  
  


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  Energy Manipulation

  
  

  Speaking of Enron, the a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-gongloff/jpmorgan-chase-power-market_b_1647131.html” target=”_hplink”Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is investigating/a charges that JPMorgan manipulated power markets in California and the Midwest.

  
  


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  Credit Card Swipe Fees

  
  

  The bank said in the filing that a href=”http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-09/jpmorgan-says-credit-card-swipe-case-cost-1-2-billion.html” target=”_hplink”it will pay about $1.2 billion/a to settle charges that it conspired with MasterCard and Visa to rig credit-card swipe fees.

  
  


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  Libor

  
  

  The bank is being investigated by regulators all over the world for its a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/09/jpmorgan-chase-libor-subpoenas_n_1760015.html” target=”_hplink”alleged involvement in manipulating Libor/a, a short-term interest rate that affects borrowing costs for people, businesses and governments all over the world.

  
  


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  Madoff Ponzi Scheme

  
  

  Several lawsuits have accused the bank of aiding and abetting Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the biggest in history. The Madoff bankruptcy trustee and others have also sued the bank to get back some Madoff clients’ money.

  
  


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  MF Global

  
  

  The bank is under investigation by regulators for its a href=”http://www.google.com/url?sa=trct=jq=esrc=ssource=webcd=1ved=0CFEQFjAAurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fhalahtouryalai%2F2012%2F06%2F04%2Fjpmorgans-other-messy-problem-mf-globals-missing-money%2Fei=Ui0lUNP7Eqe96QHP94CABAusg=AFQjCNEJVDksnFTh3KP1uS3u73bLgoSfZQ” target=”_hplink”relationship with the failed brokerage firm MF Global/a. It is also being sued for allegedly aiding and abetting MF Global misuse of customer money.

  
  


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  Mortgage Backed Securities

  
  

  The bank is being sued by hordes of investors for its bundling and selling of mortgage-backed securities packed with bad mortgage debt before the financial crisis. “There are currently pending and tolled investor claims involving approximately $130 billion of such securities,” the bank says.

  
  


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  Mortgage Foreclosures

  
  

  The bank was part of the big a href=”http://nationalmortgagesettlement.com/” target=”_hplink”$25 billion settlement/a with the government over mortgage-foreclosure abuses. But there are still several lawsuits and regulatory actions pending against the bank over its foreclosure practices.

  
  


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  Peregrine Financial

  
  

  The bank didn’t mention this in its regulatory filing, but it is also involved in the failure of the Iowa brokerage firm Peregrine Financial. JPMorgan a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/pfg-customer-account-jpmorgan-chase_n_1668386.html” target=”_hplink”holds some customer money for the firm/a, and recently a href=”http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/08/06/jp-morgan-objects-to-terms-proposed-by-peregrine-trustee/” target=”_hplink”tussled in court/a with the PFG bankruptcy trustee.

  
  

JPMorgan Mortgage Settlement Could Cost As Little As $9 Billion: Sources