JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $60 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by investors who accused it of intentionally manipulating the prices of precious metals futures and options.
The settlement comes in the wake of a U.S. government investigating its trades in precious metals and in U.S. Treasury markets.
As per of the settlement deal, JPMorgan will not admit to wrongdoings, which covers traders in precious metals futures and options from March 2008 to August 2016; the deal requires approval from a federal judge in Manhattan.
Lawyers for the investors called the settlement “substantively fair,” citing, among other reasons, the risks of continued litigation.
The settlement payout will recover around 7% of the estimated $915 million of classwide damages, said the lawyers.
JPMorgan declined comment.
Spoofing is an illegal technique used by where traders to place orders they intend to cancel, hoping such placement of orders will boost prices to benefit their market positions.
In Sept. 2020, JPMorgan entered a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay $920 million, including a $436 million criminal fine, to settle U.S. government probes into spoofing in precious metals and Treasuries.
Earlier this year in September, JPMorgan, reached a $15.7 million settlement over Treasury spoofing.
Lawyers for the precious metals investors plan to seek up to one-third of their settlement, equivalent to $20 million, to cover their legal fees.
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