JPMorgan Fights to Hold $4 Billion of WaMu Securities

JPMorgan Chase & Co. began a court fight for control of $4 billion in securities it claims to have acquired with the purchase Washington Mutual Inc.’s bank for $1.9 billion in 2008.

JPMorgan wants U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath in Wilmington, Delaware, to rule that investors got preferred stock in WaMu in exchange for the debt-like, trust-preferred securities when WaMu’s bank was seized by regulators. The Office of Thrift Supervision ordered the exchange to ensure that WaMu’s bank kept control of the securities, according to court records.