JPMorgan Chase & Co. promoted Erik Bisso to head of its chief investment office for North America. He replaces Irene Tse, who left in 2012 to start a hedge fund. Bisso had previously overseen agency mortgage-backed securities pass-through trading and will be replaced in that role by Bill Anast.

California's attorney general on May 9, 2013 filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. that claims the bank used illegal tactics to collect debts from credit card holders. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the suit, the first such lawsuit filed in the country, includes claims of "robo-signing" of legal documents, a practice that was used in mortgage foreclosures until outlawed. That and other practices allowed the bank to file an average of 100 lawsuits a day for debt collection. The suit also claims the company failed to properly notify customers that suits had been filed.

The trustee for Peregrine Financial Group is considering bringing claims against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) for allegedly permitting the embezzlement that brought down the brokerage last summer. Trustee Ira Bodenstein sees evidence that the banks "breached a variety of duties" to Peregrine's customers and is investigating "a number of viable claims" against them, he wrote in a complaint filed May 8, 2013 in an Illinois bankruptcy court. The court granted Bodenstein's request to delay a class-action suit against the estate while it investigates claims against the banks as well as the brokerage's former management. The banks allowed former Peregrine Chief Executive Russell Wasendorf to use segregated customer accounts as a "personal piggybank," the class-action filed by former customers in December alleges. It accuses U.S. Bank of fraud and negligence and JPMorgan of breach of contract. Wasendorf is serving a life sentence in federal prison for stealing more than $215 million from Peregrine's customers over nearly 20 years. The two banks' motion to dismiss the charges in the class-action suit will be heard on May 13, 2013.