Ex-JPMorgan banker gets 5 years in prison for embezzlement

[NEW YORK] A former investment adviser at US banking giant JPMorgan Chase was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for embezzling more than US$20 million in his clients' funds.

Michael Oppenheim, 49, must also pay back US$20 million in restitution to JPMorgan, under a sentence handed down by US District Judge Analisa Torres, said a spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office in New York.

Oppenheim in November 2015 pleaded guilty to charges he defrauded clients of some US$22 million over a seven-year period.

Oppenheim, who worked for JPMorgan for 13 years until he was fired in March 2015, took funds from client accounts without the investors' knowledge, prosecutors alleged.

In other instances, Oppenheim induced clients to withdraw hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars under the guise that he would invest the funds in low-risk municipal bonds.

Instead, Oppenheim traded stocks and options for such companies as Apple, Google and Netflix. Oppenheim typically lost the entire amount of each deposit, US officials charged.

Oppenheim had sought leniency, arguing that an addiction to gambling drove his conduct.

AFP