JPMorgan Charged $65 Million for Influencing US Dollar Standard
On Monday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged JPMorgan Chase Bank with a $65 million fine for trying to influence the value of a US Dollar standard index.
The CFTC noted that JPMorgan traders on several occasions tried to influence the US Dollar International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix (USD ISDAFIX), an interest rate standard, within a five year period from 2007 to 2012.
The commission discovered that JPMorgan traders tried to influence the USD ISDAFIX interest rate both by consciously releasing fake rates and by “muscling” the index immediately before its daily reference point snapshot.
Speaking on the charge, James McDonald, the CFTC’s director of enforcement, noted:
“This matter is one in a series of CFTC actions that clearly demonstrates the Commission’s unrelenting commitment to root out manipulation from our markets and to protect those who rely on the integrity of critical financial benchmarks.”
The allegations have raised a lot of news that the previous year’s bitcoin price rally was as a result of market manipulation yet thus enforcement action acts as a reminder that manipulation exists in almost all financial markets and is seen even by regulated financial institutions.
According to reports, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been an honest critic of bitcoin, an asset that he once referred to as a “fraud” that is “worse than the tulip bubble.”
Dimon, later on, went against those comments, but in an ironic change of event, the bank was charged for committing fraud by charging customers excessive fees for bitcoin purchases made with credit cards without giving them any prior alert. The institution, just like others has for a while restricted customers from purchasing cryptocurrencies on credit.
