By Tyler Durden

Last week, we reported that as Deutsche Bank’s infamous gold manipulator and spoofer – and currently star witness for the prosecution in a massive case targeting precious metal manipulation – David Liew, admitted “spoofing was so commonplace I figured it was OK.” Well, it wasn’t OK, but since everyone else was doing it, we can see why Liew was confused.

And speaking of everyone else also manipulating and spoofing gold, we go from Deutsche Bank straight to JPMorgan, which according to Bloomberg is set to pay a record $1 billion settlement to resolve market manipulation investigations by U.S. authorities into its trading of metals futures and Treasury securities.

A penalty approaching $1 billion would far exceed previous spoofing-related fines. It would also be on par with sanctions in many prior manipulation cases, including some brought several years ago against banks for allegedly rigging benchmark interest rates and foreign exchange markets.

The settlement amount, the highest in history of its kind, may be announced as soon as this week said anonymous Bloomberg sources. Its payment would also end probes by the DOJ, CFTC and SEC into whether traders on JPMorgan’s precious metals and treasuries desks rigged markets. Which, of course, they did. In fact, a cynical take would suggest that JPM is merely paying a kickback to the various regulators for the mistake of having been caught rigging various markets.

#JPMorgan Pays A KICK BACK aka BRIBE To #CFTC For Manipulation of #Gold & #Silver Prices.

No Regulation – #JPM's #Metals Manipulation Profits Were Likely Much More Than $1 Billion

We Have ZERO Regulation. @maxkeiser Remember This?

Think They Stopped?

— Planet Ponzi (@PlanetPonzi) September 23, 2020

And since JPM is about to pay a small fraction of the profits it made from manipulating gold and rates markets, said rigging and manipulation with tremendous IRR will resume shortly, only this time JPM’s traders will be far more careful not to get caught, which in retrospect was their only crime.

According to the report, it’s unclear if the largest US commercial bank will face additional DOJ penalties in court:

Previous spoofing cases have been resolved without banks or trading firms pleading guilty to criminal charges. However, when prosecutors filed cases last year against individual JPMorgan traders they painted a grave picture of its precious metals desk, saying it operated as an illicit enterprise within the bank for almost a decade.

What we do know is that once JPM pays the fee – which it may well have funded from one of the numerous bank bailout schemes unleashed by the Fed in recent months – the government’s settlement with JPMorgan is not expected to result in any restrictions on its business practices.

And in what will come as a shock to many, unlike most settlements which are resolved with the guilty party neither admitting nor denying guilt, in this case it is anticipated that JPMorgan will admit to wrongdoing. Just wonderful: the bank made billions rigging rates and gold, and as punishment ends up paying a small portion of the profits and admitting what it did was wrong.

Surely that will teach it a lesson.

And just so we are clear on why Jamie Dimon is “richer than you“, in 2015 JPMorgan pled guilty to massive currency manipulation, paying a $550 million fine to the Justice Department. The bank also paid penalties to U.S. regulators.

It can now add treasurys and precious metals manipulation.

The record JPMorgan settlement follows criminal charges filed last year against several of its employees, including former head of the precious metals desk, Michael Nowak, when the DOJ used racketeering laws more commonly used in mafia and drug gang prosecutions, alleging the precious metals desk effectively became a criminal enterprise for eight years.

Nowak and three others accused in the case pleaded not guilty and are seeking to have the charges dismissed. Two other former traders have pleaded guilty to conspiracy claims and are cooperating. Shortly after Nowak was charged, JPMorgan learned it was the focus of a separate but related criminal investigation into the bank’s trading of Treasury securities and futures, according to another person familiar with the matter. JPMorgan, which disclosed that investigation earlier this year, said it’s cooperating with authorities.