In back to back announcements the Department of Justice signaled it was standing up to unrestricted corporate business practices on Wall Street.
Yesterday, the DOJ said it would bring criminal charges against two former JPMorgan Chase employees who are said to be responsible for a $6 billion trading loss last year that they tried to cover up. Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout are charged with wire fraud, falsifying bank records, and contributing to false regulatory records. Federal authorities are also charging them with conspiracy to commit those crimes after an investigation concluded that the traders “artificially increased” the value of their bets “in order to hide the true extent of hundreds of millions of dollars of losses.” The Securities and Exchange Commission is also planning to take action against JPMorgan for allowing the misconduct. It filed civil charges on Wednesday against the two traders.
In a separate announcement the DOJ also said it would file an injunction seeking to block the merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways. The merger, which was announced last year, would create nation’s largest air carrier, but federal officials claimed in court papers that the merger would have monopolistic results leading to less choices for consumers and higher ticket prices. Both airlines contend the deal would lead to lower prices and better choices for consumers, and they vowed to fight the Justice Department’s claims in court.