Madoff case accuses JPM
EXECUTIVES at JP Morgan Chase suspected that Bernard Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme almost 18 months before he was charged with defrauding his investors out of $50bn (£35bn), claims a US court filing.
Bankers got blunt warnings about the convicted fraudster but ignored them to protect JPM’s own interests, claims Irving Picard, the trustee seeking to recoup $6.4bn for Madoff investors, in court papers that were unsealed yesterday.
Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail in 2009 for masterminding the massive fraud.
JP Morgan Chase said yesterday the claims were unfounded, adding: “[We] did not know about or in any way become a party to the fraud orchestrated by Bernard Madoff.”
It added: “Madoff’s firm was not an important or significant customer in the context of JPMorgan’s commercial banking business.”