A former member of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s executive committee has filed a lawsuit claiming the company owes him a bonus payment.
The suit, which Patrik Edsparr filed last month in London, is part of a series of disputes involving a group of senior managers who left the New York company last year.
Edsparr, 43, said in the suit that JPMorgan Chase's London unit refused to pay a deferred bonus after he left to join the a Chicago hedge fund firm Citadel Investment Group LLC.
Last year JPMorgan Chase sued the executive search firm IDW Group over Citadel's hiring of Edsparr and three other executives. In addition, JPMorgan Chase stopped trading with Citadel for a day last year before reaching an agreement with the hedge fund over the departures.
At JPMorgan Chase, Edsparr ran businesses such foreign exchange, securitized products and principal investments. He resigned in March of last year to become Citadel's global fixed-income head and European chief executive.
David Wells, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, would not discuss the suit. Roberto Moruzzi, Edsparr's attorney, said he could not immediately comment. Edsparr did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Edsparr says in the suit that JPMorgan Chase first halved, and then refused to pay an expected $5 million payment that vested in January 2007 for payment this year.
In December the company sent him a letter saying that as a result of the performance of the business and changes in the London interbank offered rate, the payment had been reduced to around $2.3 million, according to the suit.
On March 25, JPMorgan Chase's attorneys contacted Edsparr saying they planned to pay him nothing, because of "an unparticularized allegation of violation of nonsolicitation agreements contained in unidentified agreements" with the company, the filing said.
