A growing number of American banks are accused of systematically misleading customers in order to steal billions of dollars.
JPMorgan Chase is currently facing a proposed class action lawsuit alleging it transferred customers' idle cash into accounts with extremely low interest rates without proper disclosure.
The bank joins Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other banks accused of using cash withdrawal programs to quietly move unused investment funds into accounts with near-zero interest rates.
In his class action lawsuit against JPMorgan, Illinois resident Dan Bodea alleges that the bank hid its actions and failed to adequately explain how its cash withdrawal program worked in order to âgenerate substantial income for itself from its customersâ cash and the lucrative returns on such cash, while paying its customers only a fraction of those incomes.â
Recent documents show the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley on similar allegations.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley, Ameriprise, LPL Financial, UBS and Bank of America subsidiary Merrill Lynch are currently facing various lawsuits related to the seizure of funds.
Most banks, including JPMorgan, declined to comment on the matter.
LPL Financial denied the allegations and said it would "vigorously" defend itself in court.
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