JPMorgan nears multibillion-dollar mortgage settlement- NY Post

CHICAGO, Sept 28 | Sat Sep 28, 2013 1:08pm EDT

CHICAGO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - JP Morgan Chase & Co could reach a multibillion-dollar deal as early as Tuesday, putting an end to the bank's woes from mortgage securities related investigations, the New York Post reported on Saturday.

The bank and government officials met earlier this week to try to negotiate a settlement in the $11 billion range to resolve many of the probes into how it sold mortgage bonds before the financial crisis, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Negotiations have involved the possibility of JP Morgan paying up to $7 billion in cash and $4 billion in consumer relief - a large sum, but representing little more than half the bank's 2012 profit of $21 billion.

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon met with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday. While it is unusual for a company CEO to meet with the head of the U.S. Justice Department, the bank is seeking to tamp down its legal difficulties.

The settlement, if it goes ahead, would likely include claims from the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which has sought some $6 billion from the bank over risky mortgage securities sold to the government-sponsored entities, according to two people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported.

JPMorgan was saddled with about 70 percent of the debt in nonperforming home loans during the financial crisis.

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7 plead guilty in Gulf oil spill settlement fraud

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Seven people have pleaded guilty to stealing money from an oil spill settlement fund, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange announced Monday.

Five of the defendants were charged with theft of property. They're collectively ordered to pay more than $20,000 in restitution, officials said.

The defendants were indicted by a Mobile County grand jury on accusations that they created fake documents to file fraudulent claims saying they had lost income because of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

Defendants who were paid from the settlement fund have been sentenced to between one and five years in prison. Their sentences will be suspended and they'll get probation if each pays court costs and restitution to BP, Strange said.

James Carlton Gibbons, of Chickasaw, is ordered to pay $2,760, and Arthur Thomas Isham Jr. of Bayou La Batre is ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution, officials said. Isham was sentenced to one year and Gibbons was sentenced to five years in prison, officials said.

Nicholas Shane Graham, of Mobile, has been sentenced to two years in prison and is ordered to pay $4,400 in restitution.

Derek J. Strong and Jessica Danille Verrett, both of Irvington, have each been sentenced to five years in prison, officials said. Irvington has been ordered to pay $4,800 in restitution and Strong is ordered to pay $5,760.

Officials say two others, Marie Nicole Williams and Toni Leann Strong, of Theodore, were each charged with possession of a forged instrument and have been sentenced to two years in prison. They were not ordered to pay restitution because they were never paid any settlement money.

Charges are still pending against three others who were indicted in May, Strange said.

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