JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon has pleaded with and complained to the US Justice Department but cannot convince the government to end its criminal probe of his bank because prosecutors are not yet certain of their findings, people familiar with the matter said.

Dimon has negotiated a tentative $13 billion deal to settle many of the US investigations into mortgage bonds that JPMorgan – and the banks it bought during the financial crisis – sold to investors.

But the criminal investigation proved to be a sticking point during negotiations, the sources said, and Mr Dimon’s inability to win this point underscores the breadth of the problems his bank faces even after it resolves these mortgage suits.

The criminal probe relates to whether JPMorgan misrepresented the quality of the mortgages it was packaging into bonds and selling to investors.

While JPMorgan was not about to admit wrongdoing, Mr Dimon suspected that ending the criminal probe was a long shot and was not interested in holding up other settlements to wait for that, one source said.

JPMorgan has set aside a total of $23 billion to pay for legal issues, and faces more than a dozen probes globally.
– Reuters