“The U.S. government urged a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit seeking to scuttle its landmark $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co, rejecting a claim that the accord let the largest U.S. bank off too easily.

“Better Markets Inc, a nonprofit critical of Wall Street, had in February accused the government of “unilaterally” engineering a backroom accord giving JPMorgan “blanket civil immunity” for selling shoddy mortgage securities before the financial crisis.

“It said this violated the constitutional separation of powers and called for a judge to review the November settlement.

“The accord included a $2 billion fine payable to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Better Markets case was prompted by the department’s decision not to make its accusations public in a lawsuit before settling with JPMorgan.”

***

Read full Reuters article here