Did Jamie Dimon engage in securities fraud when he downplayed the London Whale trading scandal as a “tempest in a teapot”? Thanks to a ruling issued on Monday, we could eventually see a ruling on that question—or a settlement to make it go away.
U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan refused to dismiss claims by JPM shareholders that the bank fraudulently concealed its exposure from risky bets on credit derivatives by traders in its London office, including one dubbed the London Whale by his cohorts because of his outsized bets. Daniels also allowed shareholders to proceed with parallel claims against Dimon, the bank’s CEO, and former CFO Douglas Braunstein.
