The subprime mortgage scandal could cost JP Morgan more than $6 billion. This was revealed by the Financial Times, which provides a preview of some details on the fine that the financial company could be forced to pay. If so, it would be the heaviest fine ever imposed on the US bank before.
JP Morgan is on trial for subprime mortgage-backed securities fraud. The investigation, which began in 2011, concerns the sale, between 2005 and 2007, of the securities in question to the big American real estate refinancing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, later bankrupt and bailed out by the state. The FHFA, the federal real estate agency, had lit the fuse of the court case, according to which the securities would have been sold for a nominal value of 33 billion dollars, hiding the underlying risks.
The maxi fine is actually just one of the 6 swords of Damocles hanging over the largest American bank by assets. Six is the number of investigations opened by the US Department of Justice and 7 are the billions of dollars that the bank has already set aside just to pay legal fees.
