Two of the largest banks in the US are reportedly locked in a legal battle over a $481 million commercial property loan.

Wells Fargo is suing JPMorgan Chase, the largest back in the US, over accusations it greenlighted a real estate loan even though it allegedly knew that the financial statements were fraudulent, reports Reuters.

In 2019, JPMorgan issued a loan to real estate development and investment firm Chetrit Group to finance the purchase of 43 multi-family buildings with 8,671 apartments across 10 states.

Acting as the investors’ trustee, Wells Fargo alleges that JPMorgan and Chetrit knew that the sellers had fraudulently inflated the buildings’ historical net operating income by 25% even before closing the deal at $522 million.

A property’s historical net income is a financial metric that measures the income generated by a building over a specific time frame. A property’s past earnings are typically used to assess its potential value.

Wells Fargo claims that JPMorgan approved the overvalued property deal to reap millions of dollars in fees, thinking that the assets would eventually be dumped on investors who wouldn’t realize the buildings were not as profitable as declared on paper.

Chetrit’s loan turned sour in 2022 and, in the process, Wells Fargo says investors in the trust have lost tens of millions of dollars.

“[JPMorgan] had an obligation to engage in due inquiry to determine the scope of the fraudulent reporting. Instead, [JPMorgan] plowed ahead as if nothing unusual had happened without even bothering to correct known errors in the numbers.”

Wells Fargo is asking the court to order JPMorgan to either pay for damages or repurchase the loan and make the investors whole.

JPMorgan and Chetrit have not yet issued a statement regarding the case.

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney

A Bank of America insider is pleading guilty to boosting a global money laundering conspiracy that aided drug traffickers and other illegal businesses, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ says former Bank of America employee Rongjian Li was a member of a money laundering and drug trafficking outfit headed by Jin Hua Zhang.

According to prosecutors, Li used his position at the bank from 2021 through 2022 to help the criminal organization open several accounts.

Zhang’s organization then used the BofA accounts, some of which were registered using forged passports, to launder illicit funds.

“As part of his involvement, when the bank’s financial auditing systems flagged or froze accounts for suspicious activity, Li helped Zhang circumvent the bank’s anti-money laundering protocols and move illicit funds elsewhere.

In addition, Li was observed sitting next to Zhang at a dinner in New York, where Zhang discussed the different fee percentages he charged various criminal groups for drug trafficking and scams.”

Zhang’s organization is believed to have laundered millions of dollars in a span of months, according to the DOJ.

“The investigation revealed that, for a fee, Zhang laundered bulk cash for drug dealers and laundered profits from other illegal businesses. In less than a year, Zhang and his organization laundered at least $25 million worth of drug proceeds and funds from other illegal businesses through undercover agents.”

Li has pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces a monetary fine and a prison sentence.

“The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000, or twice the amount involved, whichever is greater.”

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney

Several Wall Street banks including JPMorgan Chase are abruptly changing their forecasts for the US stock market.

JPMorgan Chase’s head of global market intelligence Andrew Tyler says the lender’s trading desk is flipping short-term bearish on the stock market amid a deteriorating macroeconomic backdrop, reports Bloomberg.

All in all, the US stock market has wiped out $3.4 trillion this year, giving up all of the gains witnessed since Trump won the election in November.

Tyler’s team sees President Donald Trump’s trade war as a headwind that could limit the US economy’s growth.

“With this in mind, we are changing our view to tactically bearish… Given the uncertainty, positioning, and potential for a negative feedback loop to push people to using the recession playbook, we think the bearish position makes the most sense.” 

Earlier this week, Trump imposed 25% tariffs against both Canada and Mexico, leading to a 500-point drop in the Dow, alongside small drops in the Nasdaq and S&P 500.

As the equity market retreats, Goldman Sachs analyst David Kostin says in an investor note that equity valuations are not yet low enough to trigger a significant bounce. He also believes that the stock market will only regain bullish momentum if the US economy begins to show signs of strength.

“An improvement in the US economic growth outlook will be required to fully reverse the recent equity market weakness.”

On his forecast for stocks this year, Kostin says,

“Equity returns will be more modest than last year and match the trajectory of earnings growth.”

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley believes that the stock market will see “muted” gains this year. Andrew Slimmon, the firm’s head of applied equity advisors team, says stocks have been in a bull market since 2023, leading to concerns that the market may be overvalued.

Slimmon also says that the third year of an equities bull market typically prints mediocre gains on average based on historical data.

“With enough negatives out there, including higher-for-longer interest rates and geopolitical noise, to cause a subpar year, the recently minted optimists could revert to being skeptics, only to have the market roar again in 2026. In that case, 2025 could be more of a pause year than anything more sinister.”

Last year, all three firms predicted that the S&P 500 would soar to greater heights this year, believing that a Trump presidency would create a favorable macroeconomic environment. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley predicted that the S&P 500 will reach a new all-time high of 6,500 points in 2025.

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney