The US Attorney’s Office in Sacramento led the civil investigation of JP Morgan Chase. The bank has agreed to pay $13 billion for selling defective mortgage securities to investors.
$300 million of the settlement will go to California. The bulk of that will go to the state’s public employees and teachers’ retirement systems which lost money after investing in Chase’s mortgage-backed securities.
US Attorney Benjamin Wagner said homeowners in California may also receive a portion of the federal settlement.
“We saw in a very graphic way in the Central Valley, the affects of the financial crisis. And not all of it can be laid on the doorstep of JP Morgan or Wall Street banks and so forth," he said. "But, certainly, there was a very negative impact in this region that damaged a lot of people in a very profound way.”
Wagner said his office is also looking into filing criminal charges against JP Morgan, but he would not offer any specifics.