“US authorities are preparing criminal charges against two former JPMorgan Chase bankers tied to the multibillion-dollar “London whale” trading loss. Who are Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout?

Javier Martin Artajo

A Spaniard who was the direct boss of the JPMorgan trader nicknamed “London Whale” is the most senior of the two bankers against whom US authorities are preparing criminal charges.

Javier Martin-Artajo was the head of Europe and of credit and equity at the London arm of JPMorgan’s chief investment office, the unit tasked with managing the bank’s excess deposits whose derivative bets turned into a $6bn trading fiasco last year.

***

Julien Martin Artajo

Julien Grout, who left JPMorgan in December last year, was a low-level trader in the team of the “London Whale”.

The French citizen, who was responsible for tracking and reporting the valuation of the team’s trades, is believed to be one of the first JPMorgan bankers to sound the alarm bell over losses from the desk’s derivative bets in January 2012.”

***

Read full Financial Times article here