Former JPMorgan Banker Charged With Bribery in 'Sons and Daughters' Program -- Update

By Joanne Chiu 

Hong Kong authorities charged a former executive at JPMorgan Chase & Co. with bribery, adding to the fallout from the bank's controversial "Sons and Daughters" hiring program in Asia.

The city's antigraft agency said Catherine Leung Kar-cheung, a former vice chairwoman of JPMorgan's Asia-Pacific investment banking business, bribed the chairman of a logistics company by offering to employ his son at the bank.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption said Ms. Leung made two employment offers in connection with an initial public offering of the logistics company, which it didn't name. The offers, it said, were made between 2010 and 2011. The agency said Ms. Leung has been released on bail and is due in court on May 20.

Ms. Leung was one of two senior executives connected to an investigation into the bank's hiring in Asia. The bank pushed them out in 2015, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. Ms. Leung, 51, later joined hedge-fund manager Serica Partners Asia Ltd. The Journal couldn't immediately reach Ms. Leung for comment.

The Sons and Daughters program at JPMorgan saw bankers in Asia offering internships and jobs to the relatives of clients and prospective clients to win investment banking business in the region.

Between 2006 and 2013, J.P. Morgan hired about 200 relatives or friends of executives at Asian companies. They included close to 100 individuals who had been referred to the bank by officials at Chinese state-owned firms. Some of the hires were unqualified for the jobs they were given.

The hiring practices were the subject of a multiyear probe by U.S. authorities. In 2016, JPMorgan admitted it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and agreed to pay $264 million to resolve civil and criminal charges stemming from its Asia hiring practices. More than two dozen employees of the bank were let go or disciplined in connection with the investigation.

A bank spokesperson said on Thursday this was a historical case that JPMorgan reached agreement on and settled in 2016. "We strengthened our compliance procedures and controls around hiring and reinforced the high standards of conduct expected of our people."

Write to Joanne Chiu at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2019 08:11 ET (12:11 GMT)

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