The Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund has been named, along with public pension funds from Arkansas, Ohio and Sweden, as a lead plaintiff in a proposed securities fraud class action against JPMorgan Chase & Co. over trades made by Bruno Iksil, known as the “London Whale.” U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan ruled Tuesday that lawsuits against the bank should be consolidated into one class action. The pension funds allege they lost as much as $52 million because of fraudulent activities by JPMorgan’s London chief investment office.
JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in July the firm’s chief investment office had $5.8 billion in losses on the trades so far, and the figure may climb by $1.7 billion in a worst-case scenario. Iksil amassed positions in credit derivatives so big and market-moving he became known as the London Whale.
The Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund is represented by the Oregon law firm Stoll Berne, and by the New York law firm Bernstein Litowitz.
