Madigan announces $92 million settlement with JPMorgan Chase

Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan on Thursday announced a $92 million multistate settlement with JPMorgan Chase over a scheme to rig bids and engage in anti-competitive practices.

Madigan joined 23 states and the District of Columbia in the settlement, which will result in more than $2.2 million in restitution for Illinois municipalties, school districts, hospitals and non-profits harmed by the bank's efforts to orchestrate illegal bids, a release from Madigan's office said.

“JPMorgan Chase concocted a scheme to enrich themselves by cheating hospitals and schools out of much-needed resources,” Madigan said in the release. “Today’s settlement will restore funding to agencies throughout Illinois for use as they originally intended – to improve services in their communities.”

JPMC is the third financial institution to settle in the ongoing municipal bond derivatives investigation. Bank of America and UBS previously settled for $67 million and $90.8 million, respectively, the release said.

Thursday's agreement centered on allegations that from 2001 to 2005, JPMC conspired with financial institutions and brokers to rig bid prices for municipal derivatives, circumventing the competitive bidding process.

In some instances, JPMC and other financial institutions communicated directly with each other and not through brokers to fix prices, rates or key terms of the transactions, the release said.

Brokers also frequently offered JPMC and other financial entities the unfair advantage of reviewing other bids.