JPMorgan Chase and federal authorities are nearing settlements over the bank’s ties to Bernard L. Madoff, striking tentative deals that would involve roughly $2 billion in penalties and a rare criminal action, the New York Times DealBook blog reported yesterday. The government will use a sizable portion of the money to compensate Madoff’s victims. The settlements, which are coming together on the anniversary of Madoff’s arrest at his Manhattan penthouse five years ago yesterday, would fault the bank for turning a blind eye to his huge Ponzi scheme, according to people briefed on the case who were not authorized to speak publicly. A settlement with federal prosecutors in Manhattan would include a so-called deferred-prosecution agreement and more than $1 billion in penalties to resolve the criminal case. The rest of the fines would be imposed by Washington, D.C., regulators investigating broader gaps in the bank’s money-laundering safeguards.
