Just flashing red headlines for now:
- JPMORGAN ACCUSED BY U.S. REGULATOR OF MANIPULATING POWER MARKET
- JPMORGAN ACCUSED OF MANIPULATIVE ENERGY-BIDDING STRATEGIES
- JPMORGAN ACCUSED OF ENERGY-MARKET MANIPULATION IN 2010 AND 2011
- U.S. FERC ANNOUNCES JPMORGAN ALLEGED VIOLATIONS IN E-MAIL
And now we look forward to learning how many hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of cents the settlement will be, which will also include a full wristslapping pardon [6]of Blythe Masters of course. From Bloomberg:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. manipulated power markets in California and the Midwest from September 2010 and June 2011, according to allegations unveiled today by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The bank has agreed to sanctions that include a fine of about $400 million, to settle the investigation in a deal that may be announced as early tomorrow, according to a person familiar with the case who asked not to be identified because the terms aren’t yet public. Other claims may include forfeiting or forgoing excess profits, this person said.
The federal agency, which announced the allegations today in an e-mail, has been investigating a JPMorgan trading unit’s market activities for more than a year, separate regulatory and court filings have revealed.
And there you have it: a $400MM fine (on $99.5 billion in projected 2013 revenues, or about 0.4%) and all is well - for the SAC watchers, this is roughly how much worth of tuna (and sometime whale) the firm orders for its Hamptons' parties.
Also, while JPM may now officially have been charged and admitted to manipulating the power market, it never, EVER, manipulated the gold or other previous metal markets. EVER.