Although an employment judge found that his “suspicious and unusual” transactions on cocoa futures might have been attempted to attempt market manipulation, a former JPMorgan commodity trader at the bank was unfairly dismissed.
The judge said Phil Remillard, a former London farm trader at Wall Street Bank, was considered unfair because he did not get the documents he had the right to see in the bank's investigation of his discipline.
"The dismissal is also unfair because of the unreasonable delay provided in the outcome of the disciplinary process (Remrad)" according to a court ruling issued on Monday.
However, the judge also found that Remillard claimed that JPMorgan rejected him to appease regulators, which could be deceptive - a practice involving the rapid placement and withdrawal of buy and sell orders to give other merchants a false impression of demand.
"Based on the balance of probability, I concluded that the claimant was engaged in deception," the judge said. "He contributed to the dismissal with his act of reproach."
Remillard was fired in December 2022 and denied the allegations.
The trader was fired after JPMorgan agreed to pay a $900 million settlement in the U.S. in 2020 after JPMorgan agreed to manipulate precious metals futures and U.S. government bond markets.
Regulators have tried to combat fraud since the rapid fire and computer-powered deals began to dominate global markets.
Remillard's so-called fraud industry occurred in 2018, after JPMorgan Re-Re-Ran's surveillance operation, because of concerns that some transactions have not been properly monitored.
In this case, JPMorgan argued that it was obvious to any trader, but inexperienced, Remillard's trading model was both suspicious and unusual, an argument accepted by the judge. Remillard argues that he is testing liquidity through some suspicious industries.
The judge found: "(Remillard) accepting a deceited order shows one or more signs of deception... This is in itself an indication (HE) may be deceiting."
The judge added that if the case was “no procedural unfair”, Remyrad would be dismissed “95% chance”.
Because of the trader's contribution to his dismissal, the judge said: "The level of compensation is reduced on this ground" will be determined at a future hearing. Remillard sued for the purpose of getting a job back.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
Remillard did not immediately respond to a request for comment via LinkedIn.