The US Treasury said JPMorgan violated sanctions on Iran, Sudan and Cuba. The biggest case involved 1,711 wire transfers from a Cuban national that JPMorgan processed from 2005 to 2009.
The Iran violations involved a $2.9 million letter of credit in 2009 for a vessel belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and the transfer of 32,000 ounces of gold to the benefit of an Iranian bank.
A JPMorgan spokeswoman said the violations were all unintentional.
The Treasury scoffed at that. It said another bank had warned JPMorgan in 2005 that the Cuban transactions looked suspicious.
But JPMorgan did not take steps to prevent future transactions nor reported the questioned transactions to the US government.
A Treasury statement labeled JPMorgan’s conduct “egregious because of reckless acts or omissions.”
It said JPMorgan “managers and supervisors acted with knowledge of the conduct constituting the apparent violations and recklessly failed to exercise a minimal degree of caution or care.”
Still, the fine on JPMorgan was low compared to previous such cases involving Iran sanctions. For example, Credit Suisse paid $536 million in 2009; Barclay’s paid $298 million in 2008.
