WSJ:
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--Argentina has filed criminal charges against several local companies and JP Morgan Chase & Co. alleging the defrauding of local pension funds through the manipulation of share values.
Argentina's financial-information unit, or UIF, filed the criminal complaint in federal court Wednesday, the agency said in a press release.
According to the release, media conglomerate Grupo Clarin S.A. (GCLA.BA), Banco Patagonia S.A. (BPATL, BPAT.BA), local real estate and finance investment firm Consultatio S.A. and JP Morgan Chase worked together defraud private pension funds of millions of dollars.
The charges are based on the testimony of a former JP Morgan executive, Hernan Arbizu, who said that the investment bank cooked up the scheme, according to the release. JP Morgan Chase spokesman Brian Marchiony declined to immediately comment. Representatives from Clarin, Banco Patagonia and Consultatio couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
According to the UIF, JP Morgan acted as the agent in facilitating the sale of company shares including those of Clarin, Banco Patagonia and Consultatio to private pension funds, or AFJP's, at inflated prices based on inaccurate company disclosures, only to see those stocks plunge steeply in value shortly thereafter.
According to the government, the fraud was "probably done with the connivance of the management" of the AFJP's, which were nationalized in late 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment