McCarran to receive $202,000 from bid rigging settlement
McCarran International Airport stands to collect $202,000 from a settlement between 25 state attorneys general and JP Morgan Chase & Co. over bid rigging in municipal securities.
The sum is McCarran's share of a $65.5 million fund that JP Morgan agreed to pay last year to counterparties of municipal securities it underwrote and structured. McCarran was involved in three, flowing from three different transactions that were not detailed.
According to the settlement document, JP Morgan and four other major underwriters in the $400 billion a year municipal bond market rigged the market in ways that improved their profits at the expense of the agencies selling the bonds. The settlement said JP Morgan sometimes went to elaborate lengths to create the appearance of competition when there was none.
The settlement said most of the illegal activity occurred between 2001 and 2005. The employees involved are no longer at JP Morgan, and its municipal derivatives desk has been closed.
The settlement came up on the Clark County Commission agenda on Tuesday and was approved without comment.
Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
