Scandals: #10 London Whale

Christopher Wilson
·Senior Writer
JP Morgan/London Whale Loss Scandal
Stocks for JPMorgan Chase & Co. saw stocks drop in value nearly 20 billion, after the company disclosed its losses. Its stocks soon rebounded back to normal levels by autumn. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) (Reuters)

JPMorgan Chase trader Bruno Iksil (nicknamed the London Whale) gambled big on an obscure corner of the credit market—and lost in spectacular fashion.

The London Whale not only incurred $6.2 billion in trading losses but allegedly also mismarked some of the losses to cover up their magnitude. His supervisor, Javier Martin-Artajo, was sued by the bank for assisting in the cover-up, and JPMorgan has been the subject of an investigation by the U.S. government. Still, CEO Jamie Dimon has found his name mentioned for positions in the second Obama administration, and JPMorgan Chase stock had rebounded to its prescandal levels by October.