JP Morgan agreed to pay $330 million to Malaysia to settle 1MDB case, additional $3 million implied in fines by Switzerland
JP Morgan Chase agreed to pay $330 million to the Malaysian government to settle all legal claims linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal, without any admission of guilt. The agreement reached between the Malaysian authorities and the US bank was announced on August 22, 2025.
On the same day, Swiss prosecutors fined JPMorgan (Swiss) SA 3 million Swiss francs ($3.7 million) after finding it failed to put in place adequate safeguards to prevent aggravated money laundering. The Swiss attorney general announced on Friday that they found JP Morgan guilty as they failed to take effective and essential measures to prevent money laundering.
1MDB (1 Malaysian Development Berhad) accused JP Morgan Chase of being involved in funds’ misappropriation through a complex web of shell companies and offshore transactions. Other banks involved include Deutsche Bank and Coutts & Co. The settlement amount is aimed at recovering losses due to alleged negligence, conspiracy to defraud, and breach of contract. Another party to these misappropriations was Goldman Sachs (US Bank), which settled the case in 2020 by agreeing to pay $2.5 billion.
Malaysian and US investigators discovered that an estimated amount of $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB from 2009 to 2014. All the pending appeals that were filed linked to 1MDB will be withdrawn by both parties without any admission of guilt.
The joint statement from Malaysian authorities and JP Morgan said,
“The settlement agreement resolves all existing and potential claims and binds both parties from any future claims or litigations related to 1MDB.”
The second case, which got JP Morgan fined, was the result of a Swiss Money laundering enforcement action. The Swiss Attorney General’s Office said it had found JPMorgan (Swiss) guilty of failing to implement adequate organizational measures to prevent aggravated money laundering in relation to 1MDB transactions. The Geneva-based unit was fined 3 million Swiss francs ($3.71 million) as part of a federal investigation into its role in transfers linked to two PetroSaudi International executives. The executives were convicted by a Swiss court in 2024 of embezzling more than $1.8 billion from 1MDB.
JP Morgan announced that they were satisfied with the resolution of these matters, the bank in its official statement said,
“Since then, we’ve enhanced our controls, earning the trust of regulators in Switzerland and beyond.”
