S.E.C. Is Said to Press JPMorgan for an Admission of Wrongdoing in "Whale" Case

If JPMorgan concedes to some wrongdoing in a settlement, such an admission would set an important precedent for the Securities and Exchange Commission, coming after decades of allowing defendants to "neither admit nor deny wrongdoing." A pact could come as soon as this fall, according to people briefed on the case, who added that the agency had not threatened to charge JPMorgan executives in the case.

The losses in the case -- which have now swelled to more than $6 billion -- stemmed from outsize derivatives wagers made by traders at JPMorgan's chief investment office in London.