Former J.P. Morgan Banker Loses Argument in 'London Whale' Case
March 22 2017 - 10:53AM
Dow Jones News
By Margot Patrick
LONDON--Former J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. executive Achilles
Macris lost a final argument Wednesday over whether the U.K.
financial regulator identified him in an enforcement notice over
the 2012 "London whale" trading debacle.
The Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Macris wasn't identified by the
Financial Conduct Authority in a 2013 action, overturning two
earlier rulings in favor of Mr. Macris's claim that references in
the notice clearly referred to him.
The decision means several similar suits against the FCA over
the identity of traders and executives in enforcement notices are
now likely to be abandoned, lawyers said.
J.P. Morgan was fined GBP137.6 million by the FCA in 2013 and
the actions of executives in its London-based Chief Investment
Office were described in a public enforcement notice. Mr. Macris,
the head of the unit, argued that he could be identified by terms
such as "CIO London management," without having been given the
chance to give his version of events.
Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption disagreed that "CIO" or
"CIO management" would be construed to mean Mr. Macris or even an
individual.
"The real question is whether the terms of the notice itself
would have conveyed to a reasonable member of the public without
extrinsic information that any of these terms was a synonym for Mr.
Macris. Plainly it would not," Justice Sumption wrote in the
ruling.
Mr. Macris in a statement said he was "naturally disappointed"
and that the FCA had won its case on a technical interpretation.
"Although the Supreme Court has ruled that I was not identified,
the reality is that the FCA's Final Notice to J.P. Morgan made
findings about my conduct which the FCA had to retract," he
said.
An FCA spokesman said it is pleased with the decision and is now
considering what it means for other cases involving so-called
third-party rights. The FCA has to give parties the right to
respond if they are identified in an enforcement action.
J.P. Morgan paid nearly $1 billion to U.S. and U.K. authorities
in 2013 and admitted wrongdoing over $6.2 billion in trading losses
in the CIO.
The FCA fined Mr. Macris more than $1 million last year for
failing to be open with authorities about the trades. Mr. Macris at
the time said he agreed to the fine since the FCA didn't accuse him
of deliberately misleading authorities and he wanted to end a
"drawn-out and burdensome process."
Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 22, 2017 10:38 ET (14:38 GMT)
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