JPMorgan $JPM Chase has agreed to pay the Malaysian government approximately $330 million, without admitting liability, in a settlement for its role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
The bank said on Friday that it will pay 1.4 billion ringgit to Malaysia’s Assets Recovery Trust Account, adding that the deal “resolves all existing and potential claims and binds both parties from any future claims or litigations related to 1MDB.” The embezzlement scandal reportedly cost Malaysia’s state development fund billions of dollars.
“We appreciate the collaboration with the Malaysian Government in resolving past matters related to 1MDB, which have been thoroughly reviewed,” JPMorgan told Quartz. “Since then, we’ve enhanced our controls, earning the trust of regulators in Switzerland and beyond."
On the same day as the settlement announcement, Switzerland’s attorney general issued a summary penalty order that fines JPMorgan Suisse 3 million Swiss francs — or about $3.7 million — for “failing to take all reasonable and necessary organisational measures to prevent acts of aggravated money laundering” between October 2014 and July 2015, according to a Google $GOOGL-translated statement from the attorney general’s office.
The statement adds that the 34 international transfers during this time period totaled about 174 million Swiss francs, or about $217.2 million. It said that since 1MDB is already being compensated, it hasn’t ordered a compensatory claim. Switzerland’s attorney general initiated criminal proceedings against the bank in November 2022.
Investigators in the U.S. and Malaysia have said at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the state development fund 1MDB between 2009 and 2014, Reuters reported.
1MDB sued JPMorgan Chase's Switzerland unit in 2021 for $800 million due to alleged “negligence, breach of contract, conspiracy to defraud/injure and/or dishonest assistance," the outlet reported.