JPMorgan Chase has reportedly reached a tentative $13 billion deal with the Justice Department to settle a number of investigations related to mortgage securities. Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal all report word from a source that the breakthrough in the negotiations was reached Friday night after a conversation between Attorney General Eric Holder and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Details still need to be worked out, but if it’s completed it would mark “the largest settlement the U.S. government has reached with a single company,” according to the Journal.
The preliminary deal wouldn’t close a continuing criminal investigation into the bank’s conduct, but it would include the $4 billion agreement that JPMorgan reached with the Federal Housing Finance Agency over the sale of mortgage-backed securities. Holder was reportedly insistent that the Justice Department would never agree to a release of potential criminal liability for the bank, according to Bloomberg. The deal is also likely to include a measure that forces the bank to cooperate with any criminal investigations.