JPMorgan disclosed possible misconduct to feds ahead of earnings

July 16, 2012 - 6:54 pm | Category: Money

In a matter of days, the two-month-old criminal investigation into a $5.8 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. — known as the “London Whale” blunder — was transformed from dormant to potentially explosive.

Last Thursday, the day before JPMorgan reported its highly anticipated second-quarter earnings, the bank informed U.S. authorities that an internal investigation had found evidence that three London traders may have tried to hide the losses in some of their positions, said people familiar with the matter.

Late on Thursday evening, JPMorgan also decided it needed to restate its first-quarter earnings as a result.