Javier Martin-Artajo is accused of trying to cover up Bruno Iksil's spiralling multibillion pound losses© Michael Nagle/Getty ImagesThe 'London whale' cost JP Morgan $6bn.
A former JP Morgan banker has been arrested in Spain 10 days after US authorities filed charges against him over the "London Whale" affair that cost the bank $6bn (£3.9bn).
Javier Martin-Artajo, who was the direct supervisor of Bruno Iksil, the trader dubbed the "London Whale", handed himself in on Tuesday in Madrid following a conversation with the specialist fugitive unit of the Spanish police.
Martin-Artajo, a 49-year-old Spanish national, is wanted by US authorities on
four charges of conspiracy, keeping false books and records, wire fraud, and making false filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission watchdog.
His passport has been confiscated pending extradition proceedings, a spokeswoman for the Spanish national court said. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges, although extraditions from Spain to the US are rare.
He is accused of trying to inflate the value of trading positions held on JP Morgan's books. The mismarking allegedly took place as the traders tried to hide mounting losses in an illiquid derivatives market, where they had made outsized bets.
Martin-Artajo, who was paid $11m a year for his work as head of Europe for JP Morgan's chief investment office (CIO), was
charged by the New York attorney general, Preet Bharara, earlier this month. Bharara alleges that as the London losses mounted Martin-Artajo and former junior JP Morgan trader Julien Grout began to "creatively cook the books".
Comment: Redundant question - psychopaths literally have no shame and no conscience !!!